A tribute to Dietrich Bonhoeffer at April 9th, 64 years after his death. In one of his letters from prison, dated March 27th 1944, he writes about the meaning of Easter. In these words you will find a clue to the secret of his life, but also of his death. He died with the confession that life would now begin. He lived out what he wrote in these words: being ‘victorious over death’, because of Christ’s resurrection.

Speaking of Easter, do we not attach more importance nowadays to the act of dying than to death itself? We are much more concerned with getting over the act of dying than with being victorious over death. Socrates mastered the art of dying; Christ overcame death as the eschatos echtheos (the last enemy; 1 Corinthians 15.27). There is a real difference between the two things. The one is within human capacity, the other…