Bonhoeffer in His Times and Ours: starts June 19, online!

For a full list of  other Redmont Retreats summer 2017 programs, click here.

Bonhoeffer in His Times and Ours

 * community * tyranny * resistance * friendship * history * decisions * uncertainty * faith *

June 19-July 23, 2017
An online adult education class
(with an optional retreat dimension)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Christian pastor in the Lutheran tradition, scholar, and resister against the Nazi regime, was executed for his resistance activities in 1945, at the age of 39. His writings and life have become well known around the world, from South Africa to South Korea.

Here in the U.S., many are reading Bonhoeffer's works again --or for the first time-- both because of the times in which we live and because of a couple of new, recently published biographies. DB's writings inspired resisters to the regime of apartheid in South Africa a few decades ago. Both "evangelical" and "liberal" Christians have found him and his words appealing -- often, though not always, for different reasons. His prison writings speak to those for whom religion or church are a difficult or meaningless reality.

What, when, where, how

* An online course-retreat combining reading and learning with (optional) spiritual practice and prayer. (Of course, reading is itself a spiritual practice!)

* No religious or academic requirements. Open to all who wish to read, learn, and reflect.

* Begins Monday, June 19, 2017.

* There will be readings, but not as much material as in a college course.

* You'll need to check in to the course-retreat blog at least a couple of times a week, but you can do it any time, day or night, wherever you are. You'll need a computer or tablet with internet access

* This online course also includes a dimension of spiritual practice and prayer for those who wish. The format allows for it to be a hybrid of course and retreat. Your choice. (And no technological complications -- you can just skip specific posts or make them part of your experience.)

* Readings will be from different stages of Bonhoeffer's life, from privileged university student to underground seminary leader to conspirator to prisoner.

* The online materials will also include some visual and musical resources. Bonhoeffer loved music.

* Easy registration via PayPal secure link, which takes credit and debit cards in addition to PayPal. Note: You don't have to have your own PayPal account to use this online payment method. (If you prefer paying by check, please e-mail me.)

Some discounts are available for those in financial hardship. Talk to me.
The benefactor rate helps offset costs and makes scholarship aid possible.

Register here!

Retreat fees (choose one)

Regular rate $135.00 USD Benefactor rate $200.00 USD Discount rate $100.00 USD Hardship rate $65.00 USD

Payment is non-refundable and due upon registration.

An online course that's not part of a school or degree? How does that work?

* The course-retreat offers online resources to participants (and only to them): excerpts from Bonhoeffer's written works, reflection questions, opportunities for conversation with other participants and with your friendly facilitator, spiritual exercises, links to music, images. It does so with the help of fairly simple technology, a blog. More specifically, a closed blog.

* What's a closed blog? It's a blog like this, but it is not public: it is open only to those whom the blog owner-administrator (that's me) has signed in. In other words, it is not open to anybody wandering around the internet. It is not searchable: random web surfers will not be able to view either the blog or our conversations in the comments. Our course-retreat blog is private and just for us.

* Once you register for the retreat, I will send instructions on the one-time sign-in mechanism. After you first sign on to the retreat blog, the blog will always recognize you.

What do you mean by "spiritual exercises"?

Spirituality --including Christian spirituality-- involves our entire life. It is bodily as well as mental. It involves our imagination and also our actions. It is about practice, not just thinking.

A spiritual exercise, therefore, may be a prayer or meditation, or a reading assignment or way of reading; but it may also be a piece of writing in a journal, a new or repeated way of interacting with others, a way of gazing or focusing, a practice of fasting or mindful eating, a new way of creating, a daily habit.

Privacy and community

Conversation (online, but not at specified times) is an important part of the course, both because you may want to ask questions and because it's good to have company when we are learning.

Conversation takes place via the comments function on the blog. Only other participants and the facilitator can read them. The blog is only open to course participants.

More about your friendly retreat designer and facilitator, Jane Redmont, here. Please do not hesitate to write me with questions or concerns.

Reminder: The full list of our summer 2017 online offerings is here.