What's the point of the church? People have been asking that question for a long time. In pre-nazi Germany however, it took on a particular seriousness: that the church should spectacularly fail to stand up against the growing fascist dogma led many to grow cynical. Understandably.

In a lecture delivered in 1932 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German intellectual and pastor, took a radical stand against the idea of separation of ‘church and world’ – the idea that the church should function as some kind of haven from the realities of existence.

Instead he proposed that Christians should, like Jesus, be very present in the world. In his lecture he was foreshadowing his own brave but ultimately doomed role in opposing Nazism, his ongoing project of interpreting the message of Jesus for everyone. And in the midst of this passionate and prophetic lecture came this confusing, unsettling, profound claim: “The primary confession of the Christian before the world is the deed which interprets itself.” Leaving just one question: what does that mean?