2026 Nyvall Lecture: The Bonhoeffer Conundrum: A Complicated Story of Resistance to Fascism

In the midst of political upheaval and the rise of totalitarian forces, how are Christians to respond in ways faithful to the Gospel? In this lecture, Dr. Reggie L. Williams will argue that Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s work and witness in Nazi-era Germany offers a compelling and imperfect example. In Bonhoeffer’s personal transformation through his encounter with difference and his radical fidelity to the way of Christ in the midst of a culture of violence, we are given one possible model for Christian resistance. 

Reggie L. Williams is Associate Professor of Theology at St. Louis University.