Book Reviews
“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed.”Francis Bacon (d. 1626)
Bonhoeffer—Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
Eric Metaxces , homas Nelson, 2010.
Reviewed by Darold Morgan
Richardson, TX
For any student of Christian theology and ethics, as well as any scholar interested in an unusual approach to Hitler’s Germany, here is must reading! Diedrich Bonhoeffer was tragically martyred in the final days of the Third Reich because of his involvement in the failed schemes of the German opposition to kill Hitler. We know Bonhoeffer today because of his writings which are modern classics both in theology and devotional content. He was a brilliant and gifted pastor and author who saw early in Hitler’s rise to power the import of his horrendous anti-Semitism as well as the staggering hypocrisy of the state Lutheran Church and its accommodation of national Socialism.
The author’s approach is simple—“Here is a life worth examining.” And Bonhoeffer comes alive in this book! The author brings some incredible skills in research which fleshes out Bonhoeffer—his remarkable family, his education, his love of Germany and its remarkable heritage and history (complete with its fatal mistakes), his transformation from a historic German rationalism to a tempered and balanced and neo-conservative Barthian. He uses extensively Bonhoeffer’s correspondence, sometimes to an extreme, but it constitutes an astonishing insight into the man’s life and values.
Living less than forty years this pastor/theologican packs into his limited time an astounding array of accomplishments, friendships, experiences, travels, controversies—all in one of modern history’s most agonizing set of years. Born before “The Guns of August,” Bonhoeffer grew to maturity in a family of wealth and prestige during the trying years following the Treaty of Versailles and the rise and growth of Communism on the European continent—a set of major influences in German politics. Then comes the rise of Hitler and his evil beyond evil, nurtured in the political and financial pressures of those difficult times, coupled with the hypocritical failure of a majority of German Christians. The author moves head on into these horrendous times with Bonhoeffer leading in the famed Confessional Church movement.
The author deftly weaves this mesmerizing account of Bonhoeffer’s life against these horrific events, his service as a pastor in Spain and London, his year at Union Seminary in New York City, his friendship with Karl Barth, Martin Niomuller and many, many others, his astonishingly supportive family, the inexorable move toward involvement in the secretive efforts to rid Germany of Adolf Hitler—a move which led to spirited debate about the ethics involved which must be understood over and against the convoluted morality of those incredible times. All of this leading to a vivid, yet understated account of those many months of imprisonment and eventual death, days before the Americans reached his prison camp!
Bonhoeffer had a genius for friendship everywhere he went. The overly-generous use of correspondence testifies to this. His ability to think through major issues in basic Christian theology is obvious in his writings. Had he lived it is apparent he would have made major contributions to the neo-orthodoxy movement. He maintained a warm and rich devotional life that he was able to share with many even to the end of his life. The author shares so beautifully the developing romantic ties with his wife-to-be, a sharing that adds only to the sorrow and grief of this brief life.
If you enjoy biographical reading, this book has your name on it. If you want to know what many Christians went through in the horrors of World War II, here is fresh and penetrating material for you. Then go back to Bonhoeffer’s writings, and they will come alive in a startling new way.
