HomeQuotesDietrich Bonhoeffer
Literature and scripture
The Christian, however, must bear the burden of a brother. He must suffer and endure the brother... It is only when he is a burden that another person is really a brother and not merely an object to be manipulated.
Life Together, chapter 4 ("The Ministry of Bearing"), 1939
Translated by John W. Doberstein · Literature and scripture
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What this means, and why it matters to a father

Bonhoeffer argues that the hard, burdensome moments of human relationship are not obstacles to love — they are the place where love becomes real. A child who is a burden is not less of a child; the difficulty is the very substance of real relationship.

There is more to this one. The full context — the events behind the words, what the author was living through, and how it applies to the specific situations of fatherhood — is in the app under Deeper Understanding.

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