Andrew Root – Dietrich Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker (Whitley College Public Lecture)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is certainly one of the most beloved Christian pastors and theologians of the twentieth century. While his work is the subject of a growing body of research, largely omitted from such has been the centrality of Bonhoeffer’s youth work and ministry with children. Between 1925 and 1939, all of Bonhoeffer’s direct ministry practice was with children and youth, leading the experience of children and youth into his well-known theological works, as well inspiring him to write much lesser-known pieces and sermons about and for young people. In this public lecture, hosted by Whitley College (http://whitley.unimelb.edu.au/theolog..., Andrew Root (Associate Professor and Carrie Olson Baalson Chair of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, Minnesota) looks to right this biographical wrong by exploring Bonhoeffer’s work with young people, and by asking how Bonhoeffer might inspire our own ministries, giving us new perspectives on our own work with young people, and others.