Bonhoeffer A Biography

This book, in it's simplest incarnation, is a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, yet, in so many ways, it is more than that.

My first impression of this rather large volume is that it would be so typical of other biographies and would simply drag on and be a tedious read. The only aspect of my first impression that was correct is that it *is* a large volume -- it is not an afternoon read; it will take a while to read.

From the first few paragraphs, the story is captivating and I often found myself saying, "One more chapter. .." even though I was already up in the wee hours of the morning reading. While I was peripherally familiar with the name Bonhoeffer, and while I felt that I had a pretty good grasp on the events leading up to and during the Holocaust, this volume deepened that understanding, and made want to learn eve more (a mark of a truly good book, in my opinion) about the German resistance to Hitler and the Nazis.

The only negative criticism would be about the author's style of relating an event, "fast forwarding" if you will to the future, then pulling you back to the point in the story. Ordinarily, this technique is effective at maintaining the interest of the reader and keeping them engaged. However, the story of Bonhoeffer's involvement is captivating enough and the technique seemed to tease me because I was already desperately reading to see what would be next.

More than anything, though, this book helped me to understand the potentially volatile role and relationship of the church with the local/national authority, and how, without a knowledge of the Bible and Godly discernment, the role can be abused. I would not recommend it for the church member who is comfortable equating patriotism with Christianity -- that notion is challenged directly. I do, however, highly recommend it for the person, who like myself, is struggling to understand exactly what role, if any, the church (corporately and individually) should play in the chess game of politics.




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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”