Bonhoeffer
Ratings24
Average rating4.2
15
Ratings24
Average rating4.2
As Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seduced a nation, bullied a continent, and attempted to exterminate the Jews of Europe, a small number of dissidents and saboteurs worked to dismantle the Third Reich from the inside. One of these was Dietrich Bonhoeffer — a pastor and author. In this New York Times best-selling biography, Eric Metaxas takes both strands of Bonhoeffer’s life — the theologian and the spy — and draws them together to tell a searing story of incredible moral courage in the face of monstrous evil. Metaxas presents the fullest accounting of Bonhoeffer’s heart-wrenching decision to leave the safe haven of America to return to Hitler’s Germany, and sheds new light on Bonhoeffer’s involvement in the famous Valkyrie plot and in “Operation 7,” the effort to smuggle Jews into neutral Switzerland. In a deeply moving narrative, Metaxas uses previously unavailable documents, including personal letters, detailed journal entries, and firsthand personal accounts, to reveal dimensions of Bonhoeffer's life and theology never before seen.
Reviews with the most likes.
Wow. Having never heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I was surprised I stumbled into this title. Lists of algorithm-generated recommendations are hit-or-miss at best, yet in this case, I was pleasantly surprised.
I did not foresee agreeing with so many details of Bonhoeffer's theology. The fact that I did continues to please me. Here is a man, born into a world of religious ambiguity, who finds himself compelled toward religious and theological pursuit. In his pursuit, he obtains a Doctorate of Theology before he is 30 years old. He breaks from rhetorical tradition. And he introduces the idea that God is very real rather than merely axiomatic.
This is but the beginning of what the book offers. As far as biographies go, it was well researched, well organized, and well presented. The author has succeeded, as my next thought is to find an English translation of Bonhoeffer's “Ethics”.
Full review at http://bookwi.se/bonhoeffer-pastor-martyr-prophet-spy-by-eric-metaxas/
Short reviews: I keep going back and forth between 3 and 4 stars. I think this was a good biography. And it left me wanting more, which I think is a good sign. Metaxas did a good job pulling Bonhoeffer out of the boxes that he is often put into. He was more than just a theologian or writer, or part of an assassination plot. But there were some editing errors and lots of strange descriptions. I called them Dan Ratherisms in my full review. They were descriptive, but distracting. On the whole though, this was a needed popular biography but there are now more biographies and I would skip this one in favor of others.
__
After a couple years, all of the digital ink spilled about the accuracy and more reading of other biographies here are my modified thoughts. There are issues with Metaxas trying to make Bonhoeffer into a modern US Evangelical. On the whole, if you have the money I would suggest that you buy and read Ferdinand Schlingensiepen's biography “Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1906-1945” My review http://bookwi.se/1906-1945/ or Charles Marsh's biography Strange Glory http://bookwi.se/strange-glory-a-life-of-dietrich-bonhoeffer-by-charles-march/
The problem with that Schlingensiepen's biography is that it is expensive. I got it on a one day sale and it is way better than Metaxas biography. Schligensiepen is from Germany, knew and worked with many of the characters of Bonhoeffer's life and is a renowned Bonhoeffer scholar. Metaxas is none of those things. Metaxas is a decent writer and he has written a much needed popular biography of Bonhoeffer.
Charles Marsh is more available and also much better than Metaxes.
