“Silence does not mean dumbness, as speech does not mean chatter. Dumbness does not create solitude and chatter does not create fellowship.”
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1954, p. 78. (original German pub in 1939)
“But after all, it is a mistake to be as unsuspecting in legal matters as I am; it brings home to one what a different atmosphere the lawyer must live in from the theologian; but it is instructive too, and everything has its proper place.” Bonhoeffer writing to his parents, Whit Sunday 14 June 1943
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Letters and Papers from Prison. The Enlarged edition. Edited by Eberhard Bethge. “A Touchstone Book.” New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997, p. 54.
Comment: Bonhoeffer was writing from prison near the end of his life. Just what good a lawyer could have done him in the face of Hitler’s personal opposition? But, yes, ‘all things in their place.’
“Bonhoeffer expressed his personal piety in his reading of Scripture, daily meditation and prayer. These practices influenced his perception and response to external ‘social and political realities.’ Throughout his life, Bonhoeffer used the Moravians’ daily Bible texts called Losungen (“watch words”) for his daily devotions. Each day included verses from both the Old and New Testaments. These texts had a great influence on his life and greatly influenced his decision to return to Germany in 1939. In addition to meditative reading of Scripture, Bonhoeffer’s most powerful discipline was prayer.”
Cannon, Mae Elise. Just Spirituality: How Faith Practices Fuel Social Action. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2013, p. 44.
Pathology: the Study of a Path 