Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer Hardcover – Deckle Edge, April 29, 2014

Theologians have been struggling with the concept that if sentient alien civilizations are out there, would God have given each of them one of his sons? This raises the question of whether, back on Planet Earth, He may also have given us more than one! If so, who are they? Well, there is Allah of Islam, the Buddha of Buddhism, even Sabbatai Zevi for the Jews. But these figures are ancient and with their day-to-day lives obscure. Who they really were is impossible for modern man to comprehend. This makes emulating them in the real world by real people nearly impossible--which is just what the orthodox Praetorian Guard wants. Yet would God want such rampant confusion about His Word? This fascinating biography raised in this reader the Cosmic Question: Are there many Sons of God in an ongoing procession in each time and place? And is Dietrich Bonhoeffer one of them?In terms of modern man, surely Martin Luther King, Jr. is as genuine a Christ-like figure for all mankind and for blacks in particular, as the earliest Hebrew. He, too, struggled mightily to bring his people into the promised land--and he succeeded! And he, too, was murdered for it.Enter Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a high-born German pastor, a shining light to everyman and to Germans in particular. He attempted to save his people from the ravages of the Nazi desecration of the German soul--and he, too, was murdered for it--by the Nazis in the last days of the war.Like all genuine saints, after his death Bonhoeffer's ethos has grown stronger with each passing decade. The appeal of his life to non-believers is his fascinating amalgam of high intellect, coupled with his determination "to live a shared life with Christ"--in the real world of electricity, the telephone, and airplanes, and without pancake make-up or donning the mantle of sackcloth and ashes. (Astonishingly, he even died a virgin!)The description of how Bonhoeffer balanced his thinking about the real world and the Shared Life was elucidated in his visit to the U.S. in 1930 to study at Union Theological Seminary in NYC. Bonhoeffer was deeply disappointed by the frivolous attitude of his American fellow post graduate students, seeking only religious "relevance" at all costs. It seemed to him that American theology was primarily interested in how to market the product.This disappointment was offset by his stunning infatuation with Harlem and the Negro religious practices of the time. He was entranced by Negro spirituals, the blues and gospel music. Here, under great official privation was a lived religion! He obtained records of their music and even sang them back in Germany! He toured the U.S. South and was appalled at the ugly stain of racial segregation. This in 1930 by a foreigner!After Bonhoeffer's arrest in Germany in April 1943, implicated in the plot to assassinate Hitler, "He would concede uncertainty. He would renounce pretensions of saintliness. He would seek only to discern the responsible course of action." This realism of action in the real world is what distinguishes Bonhoeffer from the long, tired line of orthodox theologians who have droned on for centuries about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. And kill you if you disagreed. And it distinguishes him as a down-to-Earth counselor to everyman seeking today to make sense in a senseless world.The writing in Strange Glory is exceptionally literate; the narrative moves at a rapid pace and is always compelling. It is hard to open to a page without coming across some new revelation about Bonhoeffer's place in the spiritual center of modern man, a place that cries out to us all, Christian and "Other," and raises in practical terms rare to read in any theological text what the central issue of our existence is and our troubled relationship to the deepest wellsprings of our being.Forget your "beliefs" Bonhoeffer preached, and examine your actions. If this seems too a difficult task in our modern world, read about Dietrich Bonhoeffer's life and death and learn how, under the most severe circumstances, he prevailed to the end in word and deed. Like all real Sons of God, he, too, paid the price. After extensive torture (and I don't mean waterboarding) the Gestapo executed him in the last months of the war.

Strange Glory explores the manifold expression of human nature through the relatively short life of the twentieth century theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Marsh does an excellent job in retelling the story of this provocative mind, adding insightful details that others understandably glossed over.Bonhoeffer lived, at least from one perspective, an enviably charmed life. He was born into privilege, born with a gifted mind, yet also born with an unusual drive to explore spirituality. Sadly, both privilege and giftedness also served as distractions and even as obstacles to his emotional maturation. The result was that Bonhoeffer’s life was one of constant war, fighting battles on several different fronts simultaneously. At any given time he was at once wrestling with his theology, his church, his culture, his politics, and well as his sense of self.The reader is reminded that man can function like a beast or as a saint, depending on his willingness to apply his power to choose. The choosing can be a tortuous process, if one is willing to become as fully informed as possible and determined to wrestle with the options until a clear path is made evident. Bonhoeffer was unwilling to run from the issues that faced him and resisted inclinations to slavishly react to circumstances. He chose to be a thinker rather than a mere lazy follower of other mens thoughts.The context within which Bonhoeffer lived added another layer to his decision making. Though he, and we, would have preferred it was otherwise, the choices we are given are not always between something good and something bad. Often, we can only choose between bad and a little less bad, or as Marsh nicely explained, between bold sin or the sin of neglect. Bonhoeffer chose not to run from the issues of his day, abandoning them for others to solve. Yet by engaging his reality he was torn between two seemingly contradictory commands given by Christ. On the one hand Jesus calls us to release those who are oppressed, yet on the other hand to love one’s enemy. To disobey either was ‘sin’, yet as Bonhoeffer concluded, sometimes ‘sin’ is the only option available, which only grace allows for.So, what does a follower of Christ do when confronted with the evils perpetrated by the likes of Hitler? Are we called to love the Hitlers of life even though they continue to destroy thousands and even millions of innocent lives, or do we so hate the evil of folks like Hitler that we are willing to participate in any mission to stop him - even if that includes his assassination? It is ‘sin’ not to rescue those who are being oppressed, yet it is also sin to murder the perpetrator of oppression. In the setting of his times, Bonhoeffer discovered that his theology was only useful if it worked in real life, not simply within the four safe walls of a cathedral.Following the Jesus of scripture, Bonhoeffer had been lead into pacifism. Yet, overlaying his theological conclusion was the reality of the 1940’s German regime, which inclined Bonhoeffer to set aside his pacifism - at least in this particular case. In other words, his choice to become part of an assassination plot did not mean that he had decided to cast out morality in all circumstances. With excruciating effort he concluded that ‘sin’ was morally acceptable in rate cases. Few wrestle as intensely with these issues as did Pastor Bonhoeffer. Most folks either run from stress-inducing issues or mindlessly react to them.Marsh, in this volume, invites each reader to rethink what it means to follow Jesus. There is no downside to that, since the end result is a matured faith.

A superb life of Bonhoeffer, the best of the 4 biographies I have read. It makes use of all the new material now available about Bonhoeffer's life and is beautifully and lucidly written. It shows the emergence of Bonhoeffer as the highly gifted child of a German aristocratic family who from his earliest years wanted to be a pastor but for whom Christianity initially was more an intellectual pursuit than the total personal commitment it was to become. It is excellent in its treatment of Bonhoeffer's theological development and the context within which it took place. It shows, what I had not realized before, how pivotal Bonhoeffer's experience of Negro Christianity in America was and how it influenced his response to the rise of Nazism. It also treats with understanding the homoerotic feelings Bonhoeffer had for his closest friend, Eberhardt Bethge and does not read into Germany of the 20s and 30s the attitudes we now have to homosexuality. A wonderful book about the man who became a great Christian saint. I cannot recommend it too highly

classic

An excellent biography; especially good on the years before 1931 and Bonhoffer's time in the USA. Less satisfactory on his later theological writings.

inspiring and interesting, a well written biography of an inspirational life.

Dietrch Bonhoeffer demonstrated The Cost of Discipleship. I thought Charles Marsh did a wonderful job conveying the man, caught in the Pincer Movement of history and paying ultimately the price for his integrity..It was tragic that Bonhoeffer's brain was wasted contending with the monstrous evil of Nazisism.His theology would have been a blessing for all of us.Tragically he died but his death was a marker of the quality of a man, or a German, or a Lutheran of a follower of Jesus. He has become a Beacon.What a good job Charles Mash has done to show the man warts and all. I saw no warts!