[rating:5.0]
( Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010)
608 pgs
Eric Metaxas has a rare gift of helping readers understand not only the events of famous lives, but also their heart, struggles, and victories. In his earlier work on Wilberforce, he highlighted the enormous achievements of a man somewhat forgotten over time. In this book, Metaxas introduces a provocative character to a new generation desperately in need of the same courage and theological tenacity that the German pastor demonstrated during World War Two.
The biography begins, as most do, with Bonhoeffer’s family, which was illustrious. His father was Germany’s most renowned psychiatrist. His family was highly respected and deeply patriotic. Bonhoeffer, a brilliant young man, raised in a brilliant family, appeared headed to a lofty career as a theologian, debating complex theological dogmas with the likes of Harnack and Barth. But then his nation was forced to endure defeat in World War One, and evil forces began emerging like demons out of hell. Metaxas chronicles the pilgrimage of the promising theologian as he tried to determine how one stayed true as a Christian in the midst of an evil and violent society. Sadly, as American society reels under one scandal after another, and as it faces continual assault by forces virulently opposed to God’s standards, this book has much to offer to us today.
If someone is unfamiliar with Bonhoeffer, then this book will introduce you to many of his greatest quotes and insights. He notes for instance: “The whole of world history, there is always one really significant hour—the present . . .” (80-81). Bonhoeffer must face the startling reality that Christianity has become so enmeshed with German culture that it has become hostage to it. He argues that the essence of Christianity is not religion, but Christ (83). He was prophetic in many ways, warning that the Church was in its eleventh hour. While the Protestant Church seemed enamored with its Liberal concepts, it seemed oblivious to the march of evil in its day. Bonhoeffer commented: “A fanfare of trumpets is no comfort to a dying man” (122). Bonhoeffer argued that the Church had tried too hard to make Christ “convenient” to modern man. He noted; “If it is I who determines where God is to be found, then I shall always find a God who corresponds to me in some way, who is obliging, who is connected with my own nature. But if God determines where he is to be found, then it will be in a place which is not immediately pleasing to my nature and which is not at all congenial to me” (137). Bonhoeffer also observed: “If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the opposite direction” (176).
Bonhoeffer is an enigma on many levels. It is said that he saw things on a higher plane than did most of his contemporaries. But, at the same time, he had a wonderful sense of humor and was generally surrounded by laughter. Bonhoeffer also rejected much of his theological training when he insisted that God spoke to His creatures and, without hearing from God, one could not know clearly what to do. He argued that principles could only guide someone so far, and then they had to hear from God (323).
Bonhoeffer became the director for the training of the Confessing Church’s ministers. He believed that ministry flowed out of prayer and communion with God. He called for a new kind of “monasticism” that was not isolated in an abbey, but actively involved in the world. He argued: “Things do exist that are worth standing up for without compromise” (260). While teaching his students about service, Bonhoeffer once entered the dining room and asked if there were some who could help with washing dishes. When no one immediately jumped up to help, Dietrich went back to the kitchen, locked the door, and proceeded to do all the dishes himself, despite the embarrassed pleadings and apologies from his students who found themselves locked out.
Bonhoeffer was not a great orator, but people were always moved by what he said. He noted, “We must be able to speak about our faith so that hands will be stretched out toward us faster than we can fill them . . . Do not try to make the Bible relevant. Its relevance is axiomatic. Do not defend God’s word, but testify to it . . . Trust to the Word. It is a ship loaded to the very limits of its capacity!” (272). One person observed that when you saw Bonhoeffer preaching, “you saw a young man who was entirely in God’s grasp” (277).
Metaxas does not go in to great detail, but he does touch on some of Bonhoeffer’s weaknesses. He mentions that he suffered at times from depression (282). Of course, while battling so much evil, and losing so many friends and family, the passionate German would naturally have battled with feelings of sadness throughout his abbreviated life. Yet he was also commonly described as joyful and filled with laughter. Bonhoeffer also entered into an unusual engagement to a beautiful 18-year-old named Maria, when he was 39. Being imprisoned before they could be wed, they never advanced beyond the engagement.
One observer noted: “There was always something extraordinary about him, even when the circumstances were ordinary” (345). Yet it was in the unusual time of Hitler’s Germany that Bonhoeffer had to work out his theology. As Metaxas says, “To be an ethereal figure who merely talked about God, but somehow refused to get his hands dirty in the real world God had placed him, was bad theology” (361). Bonhoeffer had to work out his ethics so he could deal with an entirely unethical government. He came to believe that the Christian life involved far more than merely avoiding sin. As Metaxas comments: “Here was the rub. One must be more zealous to please God than to avoid sin” (446). Too often Christians are paralyzed from doing any good because they are paranoid about doing anything wrong. Ultimately he came to grips with the fact that he must join in a conspiracy to assassinate Hitler.
What is compelling is that the assassination attempts failed. Bonhoeffer’s fellow conspirators were mostly arrested and many of them executed, yet their plans came to naught. Ultimately the Allied forces defeated Hitler militarily and the Fuhrer took his own life. Yet, Bonhoeffer demonstrated that, regardless of whether you are successful or not, one must allow God to guide you in knowing how to respond to the evil within your society.
Concerning death, Bonhoeffer noted, “. . . we hardly dare admit that we should like death to come to us, not accidentally and suddenly through some trivial cause, but in the fullness of life and with everything at stake. It is we ourselves, and not outward circumstances, who make death what it can be, a death freely and voluntarily accepted” (447).
Those who were with Bonhoeffer at the end of his life saw that he lived what he believed. Said one, “All humility and sweetness; he always seemed to me to diffuse an atmosphere of happiness, of joy in even the smallest event in life, and of deep gratitude for the mere fact that he was alive. . . He was one of the very few men that I have ever met to whom his God was real and ever close to him” (514).
Of course what makes Bonhoeffer’s life so compelling is that he had escaped to America and had been offered a comfortable post teaching theology in New York City where he could safely wait out the war. Yet he claimed that he would have no right to help rebuild Germany if he had not also shared in its sufferings during the war. He therefore returned to Germany where he would be arrested and ultimately executed three weeks before Hitler committed suicide and the warcame to an end.
It would seem, especially in the moral and spiritual climate of America today, that we might learn much from Bonhoeffer. The church of his day had become paralyzed by its close affiliation with its nation’s culture so that it could no longer speak prophetically. While others accused him of being alarmist, Bonhoeffer recognized the peril his church and his nation was facing. And, Bonhoeffer demonstrated what a theology that takes action can look like. Furthermore, even though Bonhoeffer dealt with some of the most evil and unscrupulous fiends in modern history, he was forever a kind, thoughtful, gentleman. He won over many of his guards and would-be tormentors because of his Christ-like conduct toward them. He demonstrated that you can fervently oppose ungodliness without resorting to being ungodly yourself.
Metaxas is an interesting writer. He throws in humorous asides that keep you alert. He also deals with deep theological issues and keeps it within the grasp of readers. This book has won many awards since its release, and rightly so. I recommend it highly, giving it my first “5” out of the reviews I have offered.
As Bonhoeffer once asked, “What are we waiting for? The time is late.” (242).