The Hedgehog

"A fox knows many things, but a hedgehog knows one important thing"                                              - Archilochus

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed in 1945, just before the end of World War II, for his participation in a plot to stop Adolph Hitler's reign of terror in Germany.  His writings while in prison have been an influence for many of today's Christian leaders.

As a college freshman at the University of Tübingen, Bonhoeffer joined a the fraternity of the Igels (pronounced 'eagle' - but meaning 'Hedgehog').

This fraternity lived by the model of Archilochus's poem about the hedgehog.  They believed that the world tries to pull us in many directions - like the fox - and this will eventually destroy us.  So we need to be like the Hedgehog and focus on the one important thing in our life - our faith in Jesus Christ.

Bonhoeffer lived his life by this thought - and impacted the world.