Eberhard Bethge

Bethge was born in Warchau, Landkreis Jerichow II, Province of Saxony, the Kingdom of Prussia, near Magdeburg, on August 29, 1909.

He was later arrested, along with dozens of other resisters, after the failed attempt to kill Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944, but he was rescued by Soviet troops shortly before his scheduled trial before the People's Court.

Although Bethge was never formally appointed to a university post, he held various academic posts and lectureships, including stints at Harvard Divinity School, Chicago Theological Seminary, and Union Theological Seminary in New York City; he was named 'Honorary Professor' at the University of Bonn in 1969.

While at CTS, Bethge traveled to Kalamazoo, Michigan, in late October 1966 for an evening supper program attended by local college and university students.

Reflecting on his former companion's work, he admitted that "the language, concepts, and thought paradigms of this man are a half century old and older... We find in him no answers to many of our most pressing questions...