Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a German theologian, political philosopher, and anti-Nazi activist. A Lutheran minister, Bonhoeffer adopted a view of religion and politics more akin to that of John Calvin. He insisted that the church uphold Christian moral standards and hold the government accountable to them (to "call sin by its name"). This led him to criticize the Nazi regime from the pulpit, which led to his arrest in 1943 and execution in 1945. He was a leader in The Confessing Church in Germany, which resisted Hitler's government.

In his book, Ethics, Bonhoeffer asserts that church and state are related by being both under the authority of Christ but with different, if complimentary, roles in the world. The state's function is to punish evil (crime) and promote good (virtue). It does this through the legal system and moral public education. But to do this, the government must know what morality is, which it can only learn from religion, or the church. Hence, the church (or "spiritual office") is distinct from the state but is necessary to it. In the sense of St. Augustine, the church advises the government. The state should respect and support the church but leave it alone in matters of faith. The government oversteps its legitimate role when it interferes with the church's spiritual and doctrinal autonomy. This is where Bonhoeffer's church ran afoul of the German Nazi state. Hitler tried to impose "Aryan Christianity" on the German Christian church, which subordinated traditional theology to fascist political ideology. Bonhoeffer and The Confessing Church resisted this and attacked the Nazi Party for its crimes. This he saw was as a duty of the church of Christ. "It is part of the Church's office of guardianship that she calls sin by its name and that she shall warn men against sin; for 'righteousness exalteth a nation,' both in time and in eternity, 'but sin is perdition for the people," both temporal and eternal perdition (Proverbs 14:34). If the Church did not do this, she would be incurring part of the guilt for the blood of the wicked (Ezekiel 3:17). This warning against sin is delivered to the congregation openly and publically . . . not to improve the world, but to summon it to believe in Jesus Christ and to bear witness to the reconciliation which has been accomplished through Him and to His dominion."

During a time when Nazi propaganda was deceiving many in Germany (calling mass murder ethnic cleansing, and military aggression national liberation) Bonhoeffer insisted that the church "call sin by its name" (murder is murder, theft is theft, etc.), even if it leads to persecution. This view of Christianity as a moral witness in the political world affected much later liberal and evangelical church activity in the public arena (especially in the United States) after World War II. So, besides being a prominent martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer developed an important perspective on religion and politics in the modern world. Educated in Germany at the universities of Tubingen and Berlin, he attended Union Theological Seminary in New York.

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