We’re spending extra time with Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Chapter 9, so that Mackenzie can connect some more dots.  The original premise of our novella was, “What if America never existed?”  The three travelers figured that would be the result if they canceled the Declaration of Independence.  Turns out they may have been right, but not in the way they expected.

If you are looking for other chapters, here is the Fixing History series index.

1.  “Gestapo” was the name of Hitler’s secret police.  However, because it comes from a phrase meaning simply “secret state police,” it’s reasonable to think the nickname would have originated naturally even if Hitler never existed.  (Take the first syllables of each major part of the phrase, “Geheime Staatspolizei,” and you end up with Ge / Sta / Po.)  Since Protestant church sects were outlawed outside of those protected by the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, a secret police agency might be necessary to suppress them.  Even under a ruler that tolerated the other sects, they were barred from meeting in churches with spires or bells.  Under the terms of the treaty, our fictional Bonhoeffer’s underground church was illegal.

2.  The Peace of Westphalia (1648) allowed for sanctioned State Churches.  In our fictional Bonhoeffer’s words, the church was “never meant to be a servant of the State.”  How could the church become subservient to the state?  Consider.  The medieval practice of selling indulgences allowed a rich politician to reduce his punishment in the afterlife for sins he had committed.  King Henry the VIII couldn’t make the pope give him a divorce, so he established the Church of England with himself at the helm.  

When Constantine the Great became a Christian, he asserted his role in establishing doctrinal orthodoxy, because disagreements among the clergy destabilized the empire.  His successor, Theodosius the Great, made Christianity the state religion.  What followed was the Byzantine empire, which set it up for eventual conflict with the Muslim Caliphates, which were also theocracies.  Finally, the church has been much criticized in recent years for its early refusal to issue a blanket condemnation of slavery.  Its concern may have been an argument favored by the state: that such a condemnation would have set loose a societal revolution.  One could argue that came true in the American Civil War. 

3.  Near the end of Chapter 8, we learned that many Protestant churches were outlawed in the wake of the Corona disease that broke out in Williamsburg.  The reason?  Because the Corona family had told Jefferson they belonged to the Society of Friends.  In Chapter 3, Jefferson asked Mackenzie, “I perceive you are from Boston, or parts north.  You might even belong to the Society of Friends.  Am I correct?”

Mac didn’t realize what “Friends” meant, so she just said yes.  Now we see the whole ramification of that mistake, because not only did they cancel the Declaration with the coronavirus, but they also canceled the Quakers (a.k.a the Society of Friends) and religious freedom for most Protestants. 

Historically, the Quakers were instrumental in convincing a broad coalition of Christians to join the abolitionist movement.  Even the British movement to abolish slavery in its entire empire was given a shove by the Quakers.  Our novella argues that, without the Quakers and the eventual Christian coalition, slavery and serfdom might have never been abolished.  (The abolition movement that the Quakers started in the 1700s was joined by Christians of many different churches by the 1840s.)

4.  The main Wikipedia article on serfdom claims that it had been eradicated in Western Europe by the end of the middle ages, but the list of dates of abolition tell a much more recent story.  In Eastern Europe, serfdom didn’t end until the mid-1800s.  Could a serf get educated by becoming a priest?  That’s the route taken by Junipero Serra, for one. 

5.  Our fictional version of Pastor Bonhoeffer challenged Mackenzie to look up the religious affiliations of the people who advocated for the abolition of slavery: “If you ever get the opportunity, look more deeply into the beliefs of those in your timeline who pushed to free the oppressed, because I have never heard a truer expression of Christianity than that.”  For the sake of argument, I did just that.  I listed a couple dozen prominent abolitionists in the U.S.

There isn’t room for it here, so this links to a pdf of my research.  Wikipedia isn’t terribly concerned with religious background, so it was sometimes hard to piece together from that source.  In almost every instance, however, I was able to trace some Christian influence from their “early life” or other experiences.  To summarize, I only found one major contributor to the abolitionist cause who had rejected Christianity.

6.  Why would the Pastor claim liberty was a distinctly Christian value?  Here are some Bible verses to consider:  (All verses quoted in the NIV.) 

           Luke 4:18* “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because … He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners … to set the oppressed free …”

           John 8:31b-32* “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

           Galatians 3:28* “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

           Galatians 5:1* “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

(*Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.)

7.  Cheap grace is a reference to the theme of Bonhoeffer’s book.

8. Slavery began in ancient times, probably soon after Adam’s family left the Garden of Eden.  If anyone doubts the authenticity of Pastor Bonhoeffer’s remarks on the subject, however, consider this report from the first book of Maccabees, written soon after the events that transpired around 160 BC: 

1 Maccabees 3:41 GNT “The merchants of the region heard about the strength of the army, and they came to the camp with chains and a large amount of money, hoping to buy some Jewish slaves.”  (Good News Translation (GNT) Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society.)

Slavery in Africa was a very real thing, as well.  To be clear, this doesn’t excuse the European slave traders.  As the Pastor and Mackenzie agreed, everyone involved was at fault.