What does Bonhoeffer's life and thought teach about Christian duty to God and the state, discipleship, and resisting injustice?
Component 03 Christian moral action: Bonhoeffer on duty to God and the state, discipleship and the cost of discipleship, the role of the Church, civil disobedience, and the Confessing Church.
An OCR A-Level Religious Studies Component 03 guide to Christian moral action through Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Covers duty to God and the state, discipleship and the cost of discipleship (cheap and costly grace), the role of the Church, civil disobedience and the Confessing Church, with the AO2 evaluation the exam rewards.
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What this dot point is asking
OCR Component 03 examines Christian moral action through one named figure: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 to 1945), the German theologian who resisted Nazism and was executed for his part in the opposition. Bonhoeffer turns Christian ethics from belief into action. You study his teaching on duty to God and the state, discipleship and the cost of discipleship, the role of the Church, civil disobedience, and the Confessing Church. The exam rewards explaining his thought and example precisely and then evaluating how far costly, active discipleship should shape Christian moral action.
The answer
Discipleship and the cost of discipleship
Duty to God and the state
The role of the Church and the Confessing Church
Civil disobedience and resistance
Examples in context
Try this
Q1. "Bonhoeffer was right that the Church must actively resist an unjust state." Discuss. [40 marks]
- What the marker wants. An AO2 essay weighing the duty to obey the state (Romans 13) against the duty to oppose grave injustice (Acts 5, "put a spoke in the wheel"), judging when Christian civil disobedience is justified. AO1 out of 25, AO2 out of 15.
Q2. Assess whether Bonhoeffer's move from pacifism to resistance was justified. [40 marks]
- Cue. Bonhoeffer shifted from pacifism to joining a plot against Hitler. Weigh whether extreme evil can justify abandoning pacifism, against the charge of inconsistency, and judge.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of OCR exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
OCR H573/03 2018 (style)20 marksAssess the importance of Bonhoeffer's idea of the cost of discipleship for Christian moral action. (The full OCR tariff for this essay is 40 marks; the worked answer below is scaled to a 20-mark exemplar.)Show worked answer →
A 40-mark Component 03 essay on the six-level scheme (AO1 out of 25, AO2 out of 15). Explaining Bonhoeffer earns AO1; the higher levels reward judging the importance of his idea.
Explain (AO1). Bonhoeffer contrasts cheap grace (forgiveness without repentance or cost) with costly grace, which calls a person to follow Christ at the price of their life. Discipleship means obedience and action, not mere belief, expressed in his own resistance to Nazism, the Confessing Church, and ultimately his arrest and execution.
Evaluate (AO2). Strengths: it makes faith demand action and integrity, and his life gives it credibility. Weaknesses: the demand may be too severe for ordinary believers, and his move from pacifism to involvement in a plot raises questions about consistency and the limits of Christian action.
Judge. A top answer decides how far costly discipleship should shape Christian moral action, and defends the verdict.
OCR H573/03 2021 (style)20 marksCritically assess whether Christians should practise civil disobedience against an unjust state. (The full OCR tariff for this essay is 40 marks; the worked answer below is scaled to a 20-mark exemplar.)Show worked answer →
A levels-of-response essay testing AO1 understanding of duty to God and state and AO2 evaluation of civil disobedience.
Explain. Bonhoeffer held that the Church owes the state obedience but also a duty to oppose it when it commits grave injustice; the Church must "put a spoke in the wheel" of an unjust regime, even at the cost of disobedience and suffering. He moved from pacifism to active resistance against the Nazi state.
Evaluate. For: Romans 13 is balanced by the duty to obey God rather than men (Acts 5), and silence before evil is complicity. Against: disobedience can lead to chaos or self-righteous rebellion, and discerning when a state is unjust enough is difficult; Bonhoeffer's path ended in a violent plot.
Judge. A high-level answer weighs when, if ever, Christian disobedience is justified, and reaches a justified conclusion.
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Sources & how we know this
- OCR A Level Religious Studies (H573) specification — OCR (2016)
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (overview) — Encyclopaedia Britannica (2023)