Excerpt: Death reveals that the world is not as it should be but that it stands in need of redemption. Christ alone is the conquering of Death. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer, pg 380.
Back Cover: Who better to face the greatest evil of the 20th century than a humble man of faith?
As Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seduced a nation, bullied a continent, and attempted to exterminate the Jews of Europe, a small number of dissidents and saboteurs worked to dismantle the Third Reich from the inside. One of these was Dietrich Bonhoeffer - a pastor and author, known as much for such spiritual classics as The Cost of Discipleship and Life Together, as for his 1945 execution in a concentration camp for his part in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
In the first major biography of Bonhoeffer in forty years, New York Times best-selling author Eric Metaxas takes both strands of Bohoeffer's life - the theologian and the spy - and draws them together to tell a searing story of incredible moral courage in the face of monstrous evil.
In Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet Spy - A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich, Metaxas presents the fullest accounting of Bonhoeffer's heart-wrenching 1939 decision to leave the safe haven of America for Hitler's Germany, and using extended excerpts from love letters and coded messages written to and from Bonhoeffer's Cell 92, Metaxas tells for the first time the full story of Bonhoeffer's passionate and tragic romance. Metaxas also sheds new light on Bonhoeffer's reaction to Kristallnacht, his involvement in the famous Valkyrie plot and in "Operation 7," the effort to smuggle Jews into neutral Switzerland.
Bonhoeffer is the story of a life framed by a passion for truth and a commitment to justice on behalf of those who face implacable evil.
My Review: I've read a lot of history books in my day, having minored in the subject, but I was not aware of the amazing life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer till reading this book. This biography is very in depth, and at times difficult to wade through, but the hours spent between its covers gave me a new perspective. Bonhoeffer was not only a pastor, but he was a spy and to my mind, those two occupations did not go together. Reading the excerpts from Bonhoeffer's writings gave me a glimpse into the mind of a man who died willingly for a cause greater than himself. The story of Bonhoeffer's life may well inspire you, as it did me.
My Rating:
My Recommendation: I would recommend this book to those who love history, especially the era of World War II.
Book has been provided courtesy of Thomas Nelson and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available now at your favourite bookseller.
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