Book Review (too short)
This is a story of someone going beyond all borders in an effort to take responsibility for his actions. From a very early age Bonhoeffer wanted to be theologian, which surprised his family (his father was a psychiatrist). But after completing his PHD at 21 and writing a dissertation that is still read today, he turned toward pastoral work as more meaningful than mere academic study. He never left behind this pastoral drive and even when his Finkenwalde students were scattered through military conscription and mass printing was illegal, he would hand copy letters in mass to continue to encourage and inform his old students.
But he went beyond the church work as well. His brother-in-law, a lawyer and non-religious, was very high up in the conspiracy against Hitler. Before it was over, two brothers and two brothers-in-law would be hung by Hitler's orders for their involvement and high treason. Bonhoeffer left nearly all of his church relationships behind and entered into the conspiracy. Not that even there he was alone, one of his main sources of encouragement and connections on the outside was Bishop George Bell of Chinchestor.
Well at some point, connected with an operation to help 11 Jews to escape, Bonhoeffer and Dohnanyi were arrested and sent to prison to be interrogated. At this point, Dohnanyi had actually been the record keeper of all the Nazi criminal activity (Zossen Files) in an attempt to gather leaders for a cou attempt, had been involved personally in two attempts to plant explosives on Hitler's plane (both times, the fuses failed to detonate) among other things. In prison, they attempted to continue to throw the interrogators off the scent as Canaris and Oster and others continued in their attempted assassination.
Finally, in July 1944, they positioned a bomb in the Wolf Lair, but it failed to kill Hitler and a deep investigation began of the entire Abwehr (German secret service) which resulted in finding at least a portion of the Zossen Files. All this meant the end for Bonhoeffer and those of his family who were involved. Klaus was tortured and by the end only hoped to never see the interrogators again, live or die.
It was while Bonhoeffer was in prison that he wrote letters that were smuggled out, mainly to Eberhard about the Christ in the world come of age, nonreligious interpretation, Christ as the "man for others" and a return to the arcane discipline. Eberhard's review of these concepts is the best I have seen and filled me with many thoughts for our times.
Well, the baby is waking and I need to finish up. I hope to write more about this book and the reasons I feel so drawn to Bonhoeffer in the coming weeks if you have further interest.
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