Conspirituality – Bonus Sample: Antifascist Christianity: Bonhoeffer (Pt 2)

Host: Matthew Remski
Originally Aired: September 1, 2025
Theme: Exploring Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s journey through Harlem and the American South to illuminate how spiritual awakening, privilege, and activism interweave in the context of antifascism, racism, and Christian thought.

Episode Overview

This bonus episode continues the examination of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life, focusing on the period during his studies in America, particularly his transformative experiences in Harlem and the Jim Crow South. Host Matthew Remski connects Bonhoeffer’s personal awakening to power structures, race, and privilege with contemporary questions about the roots and activism of American antifascism—placing special emphasis on the role of the Black church.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Contextual Importance of Bonhoeffer’s American Awakening

• Bonhoeffer, age 24, studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York, engaging with ideas of Christian realism (Reinhold Niebuhr) and the Social Gospel movement.
• Critical reflection: "If you're white and oblivious to where you come from and what that means, if you never really see the structure of empire around you and centering you, you can still learn." (Matthew Remski, 01:10)
• The story is used to illustrate that privilege can be redirected towards understanding and solidarity.

2. Harlem and the Abyssinian Baptist Church

• Immerses himself in Black spiritual and community life:
  • “He’s embedded now in the liturgical life of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. He’s learning gospel music. He’s teaching Sunday school. He’s visiting the sick and elderly in their homes. And he’s listening to Pastor Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. preach a newly alive gospel to him...” (Matthew Remski, 01:50)
• Significant reframing of Jesus:
  • From “ascended and conquering hero of empire” to “the struggling instrument of love and solidarity.”

3. Confronting Race and Racism in the American South

• Seeking deeper understanding, Bonhoeffer travels through the Deep South during school breaks (January & Easter, 1931).
• Documentation: Notes his observations on the stationary of the Peninsular and Occidental Steamship Company.
• Encounters blatant segregation and racist violence:
  • Segregation on public transit strikes him as “an outrage” (03:14).
  • Expresses horror at news such as:
    • Lynching in Maryville, Missouri, where “a Black man was chained to a schoolhouse roof and burned to death.”
    • The Scottsboro case: nine young Black men unjustly condemned to death.

4. The Spiritual Core of Resistance

• Bonhoeffer and fellow students visit “as many rural black churches as they could” to experience “the Gospel spirit, by turns melancholic and exultant.” (03:55)
• Throughout, the Black church is identified as foundational to American antifascism, resilience, and creativity.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the possibility of awakening despite privilege:
  “If you never really see the structure of empire around you and centering you, you can still learn. You can begin to understand the powerlessness of other people. You can begin to understand what struggle means. You can use privilege to understand the margins that make you the center.”
  — Matthew Remski (01:10)

• On the living Gospel:
  “...flipping his understanding of Jesus from the ascended and conquering hero of empire to the struggling instrument of love and solidarity.”
  — Matthew Remski (02:05)

• On the response to Southern racism:
  “Many Southern pastors were clearly racist pigs, and he was appalled by the news of lynchings, including a January 1931 incident... and profoundly affected by the Scottsboro case in April 1931.”
  — Matthew Remski (03:24)

Important Timestamps

• 00:03 — Introduction to the episode’s aims; situating Bonhoeffer’s American period.
• 01:10 — Reflection on learning from privilege and the structure of empire.
• 01:50 — Detailing Bonhoeffer’s life at Abyssinian Baptist Church and his shift in spiritual focus.
• 02:45 — Motivation for Bonhoeffer’s travel into the South to witness Jim Crow realities firsthand.
• 03:14 — Bonhoeffer’s reactions to Southern racial segregation and violence.
• 03:55 — Experiences in rural Black churches and the spiritual dimension of his journey.

Episode Tone

Matthew Remski’s narrative is earnest, educator-oriented, and empathetic, interweaving historical detail with contemporary moral urgency. The tone is reflective, sometimes blunt—especially regarding racism—and committed to connecting past events to present antifascist struggles.

This summary encapsulates the main ideas, pivotal moments, and the compelling personal and historical insights explored in this Conspirituality bonus episode, serving as a useful guide for listeners and non-listeners alike.