What Bonhoeffer can teach us about institutions, courage and Ukraine | Opinion
There is also one particular institution that presents especially difficult challenges to everyday flourishing: the modern state. The state is not the only form of government. There have been empires, city states, feudal lordships, and other forms. But the state has been the main form of government going back several hundred years .
Sometimes we have to take responsibility for the state by working within it. This is called politics. It’s an everyday activity that is meant to help contribute to human flourishing. We do it when we vote, pay taxes, welcome refugees, protest laws we think unjust, etc. Sometimes we have to take responsibility for life itself when a particular state is a grave threat to it. This is called war, or resistance, or maybe even martyrdom.
Following Bonhoeffer’s lead, we’ll also hear lectures from leading ethicists who will discuss the moral problems and promises of the modern state, only two months after the emergence of the greatest threat to it in more than 75 years.