In the couple of years I’ve been attending Sunday services at First Presbyterian Church in Hudson, I must have heard Pastor McMillan reference the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer at least one time out of
every four Sundays. Bonhoeffer’s take on some very basic issues resonated with me and gave me plenty to come away with (always a good thing after listening to a sermon). So when I saw an ad for Eric Metaxas’ biography of Bonhoeffer in a recent issue of The New York Review of Books, I decided to learn more about this intriguing figure. And I wasn’t disappointed.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed by the Nazis in a concentration camp just three weeks before the war was over for his role in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He was 39 years old. He was raised in a large and warm, well-respected family, whose many members were involved in various branches of the German government, military and academics. His life in the early years was privileged and carefree. He shared with his entire family a deep love of music. From the time he was thirteen, he claimed it was clear to him that he would study theology. He became a pastor, a teacher and an author of spiritual classics. He also became one of a small number who were determined that the evil that was Hitler had to be eradicated. At the time of his imprisonment and murder, he was much in love and engaged to be married.
For me, the most compelling story is Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s dual role as theologian and spy and how in the end, he shows such moral courage in the face of the implacable evil that was Hitler, the Gestapo, the Third Reich. He could not turn away; he could not simply pray his way through. Bonhoeffer lived life the way he believed; he very much practiced what he preached. In his oft quoted and timeless words: “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
The biography of this good man has been “adopted” and can be found on the library shelves.
Title: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile vs. The Third Reich
Author: Eric Metaxas
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (2010)
Reviewer: Theresa Parsons