The end of Bonhoeffer

In my recent holiday I did manage to finish Bonhoeffer, by Eric Metaxas. It’s a book I couldn’t do justice to in a review, and I read it slowly – partly because it warrants being read slowly, and partly because I was dreading the ending – which doesn’t lend itself to one-post reviews. But I am sure many are familiar with the actual story, and this is an excellently told biography. (There are some criticisms abroad of its portrayal of Bonhoeffer’s theology, but given how much material is quoted from the pen of Bonhoeffer himself in the book it is well worth reading even so, and you also gain a broader understanding of the theological climate he was living and thinking in, which was very different in 1930s Germany to what it is today.) Blog friends Nicole and Jean happened to be reading it at the same time, unknown to me when I began.

I felt a great sadness nearing the end, over the deaths of those who died in the conspiracy. So many of Germany’s most noble and courageous souls, men of great character and conviction, lost their lives in  their brave defiance and in their attempts to halt unspeakable evils. The world must surely be a poorer place for their absence. Yet Bonhoeffer didn’t view his own death, or the ‘sweetness of death’ itself, that way, as Jean quotes here, and as Nicole quotes here from Bonhoeffer on suffering faithfully. You can read other quotes from Jean here and here (and search here for previous posts from the book).

It’s a book that stirred me deeply, being both so inspiring and so challenging. (And I somehow managed to finish school without ever studying the World Wars – I can’t understand that failure of the education system I went through – so there was much more to learn along the way.) Do yourself a great good and read this book.