“The fox knows many little things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”
–Archilochus, Ancient Greek Poet
Recently, I read with humble appreciation the recently published biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas. Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran Pastor and theologian in Germany during the Holocaust. He was martyred at the young age of 39 for his faithful opposition to Hitler. A member of the German Resistance movement, he stood with passion against the persecution of Jewish people, and advocated for church to be an unblemished beacon of God’s love through Christ, not a social corporation for the Aryan ideal.
In reading the account of his life and death, I am struck by how methodically and uncompromisingly Bonhoeffer took these courageous stands for what is good and right. For several years, the Confessing Church, under Bonhoeffer’s leadership, had resisted Nazi dictates demanding proof of Aryan birth for pastoral ordination and the cleansing of churches of all Jewish people. Through letters, speeches, and courageous teaching within the Confessing Church seminary, Dietrich Bonhoeffer lived by his true convictions through the 1930’s as the Nazi’s gained their horrific stranglehold upon his native Germany.
In 1939, by personal invitation, Bonhoeffer returned to New York City’s Union Seminary (he had earlier studied there) to receive a teaching position. By then, the pressure was so great back in Germany that this move afforded a reasonable escape that could have spared his life. His friends had lobbied him to flee Germany due to the growing target on his back and possibility of imprisonment or death. Yet, Dietrich was stirred by the growing conviction that he had abandoned his people in this hour of national crisis. So, after much anguish, after just a few months in New York, he willingly returned to Germany, knowing that the Gestapo might eventually take his life. Eventually, the Gestapo made their move. Bonhoeffer was imprisoned in 1943, and after two years of imprisonment, was hung on April 9th, 1945—two weeks before the Allies liberated Germany.
In reading of such lives, I am always simultaneously encouraged and inspired , and yet humbled and doubtful—wondering if I would have the same resolve and conviction under similar pressures. One ingredient, and mainly one stands out in the life of this courageous man of powerful conviction—The Hedgehog Principle.
Early in his life, as a young seminary student, Bonhoeffer had read about the ancient Greek tale of the Fox and the Hedgehog by Archilochus. The Fox is quick, filling its life with a myriad of things, rushing here and there to perform, achieve, complete, dabble. The Hedgehog, on the other hand, is slow and methodical, knowing only ONE BIG THING, unconcerned about distractions, no matter how urgent. The hedgehog may achieve less, may attract far less attention, in fact, may even go unnoticed in his plodding persistence. Young Bonhoeffer determined to be a Hedgehog for the love of Christ. The purity of his Savior was his Hedgehog principle. I have to believe this was the single biggest factor in the courageous stand of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
