Bonhoeffers theological method is a radical (though not totally unique) one: Christ is the center of all reality and history for him. Bonhoeffer starts from Christ – he does not deduce Christ from history or nature. This is a reversal of what Bonhoeffer considered to be the failing of liberal theology – liberal theology allowed God and Christ to be assigned their place in the world.
This ties into something I’ve been thinking about – I think one of the failings of Christianity in modern times is that it has been relegated to something that has it’s proper place, rather than something in which we find our identity and being.
It seems to me that the total, absolute, ontologically transforming nature of being in Christ has been forgotten – and I’m as much to blame as anyone. These are broad strokes to be sure, but I do feel that they are accurate. Christianity is a dangerous, powerful, disruptive, traumatizing thing. We should not try to tame or domesticate it. We should not find a place for Christ – we should find our place in Him.
Theologians, Inc. 
Have you read William Cavanaugh on the emergence of the modern state and the “migration of the holy”–a phrase he borrows from the historian John Bossy–from the Church to the modern state? Or similar writings in political theology? You will find this addressed directly therein.
Of course, the discussion on the loss of a participatory cosmography also has something to do with this. With nominalism, God became a Deus absonditus: unknown and distant. Michael Allen Gillespie’s “The Theological Origins of Modernity” is probably the best treatment of this theme.
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I’ve not read either of those authors – I’ll look both of them up though. You’re definitely right about nominalism, though. I was reading G.K. Chesterton’s ‘The Everlasting Man’ and he called it one of the greatest heresies in church history, and I’m not inclined to disagree.
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Here is a link to an article by Cavanaugh published in the academic journal, Modern Theology:
Click to access killing-for-the-telephone-company.pdf
The article was later re-edited as part of a collection of essays published in book format and titled, “Migrations of the Holy.” In this article, he discusses the emergence of the modern nation state as a type of new universal community that came into competition with the Church.
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Very cool – I’ll read that later on tonight. Much appreciated.
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