Book Review (too short)
Nearly 1,000 pages on the life and thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and I loved it. Eberhard keeps an objective tone, rarely referring to himself in the first person, though on occasion it is necessary, yet, knowing their deep friendship it was easy to feel his affection for the man behind the story he is telling. 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 ...
