The SPCK Introduction to Bonhoeffer

by Keith Clements

This is a welcome new study after six decades, of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life and thought, by one of the leading figures in the field who is well qualified to analyse the many ‘twists and turns’ in approaches to this most stimulating twentieth century theologian and to suggest where those ‘twists and turns’ may be heading in the immediate future.
Biography and theology are skilfully interwoven. Clements resists the temptation of ‘hagiography’ (i.e. “turning Bonhoeffer into an unreal ‘saint’”), encircled as he is by “the aura of heroism and martyrdom” and surrounded by a “reputation for theological radicalism”.
Dr. Clements examines some of the radical content of the influential Letters and Papers from Prison (among them ‘religionless Christianity’, ‘the Church for others’ and ‘humankind’s coming of age’), and explores how those wartime thoughts relate to his earlier writings and to the incomplete Ethics (which Bonhoeffer always envisaged as his major work). I appreciated the chapter on Bonhoeffer’s attitude to Jews and the Holocaust, marshalling the arguments both pro and anti Bonhoeffer’s stance on the fate of the Jews. Clements finally reserves judgment on that issue, but does emphasise Bonhoeffer’s conviction as to the total evil of the Nazi regime.
Whether you are familiar with Bonhoeffer or new to him, this book will reward reading.



Reviewer: Barry Vendy   (08/03/10)

Paperback
Price: £12.99
Publisher:SPCK (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge)
Published:18 February 2009
ISBN:978-0-281-06086-3