Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

I did not know anything about Bonhoeffer before trading this biography. The passion and quality of this man's life amazes me. In some ways, this book reads like a thriller as it gets closer to the end. If not for the statements that reveal his fate throughout the book, I would've been on the edge of my seat hoping and rooting for him to make it through jail and camps alive so he could marry the woman he loved and live his life happily ever after. That was not to be and he goes to his death realizing that death in this world was the gateway to life in the next.

This was a very long read for me. I read the Kindle version and did not realize this was over 500 pages when I started. In some places, Metaxes uses academic language that had me going for the dictionary. Sometimes I wished he would use common language instead, however, in retrospect it does seem to fit with Bonhoeffer's life and personality.

In the end, this was an exciting yet thought provoking read. That this man really lived and was not a work of someone's imagination engages me, challenging me in how I am choosing to live. Especially in my relationship with God.