Radical Integrity, The Story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Michael Van Dyke, (Barbour Books), retold the history of Germany鈥檚 eminent Lutheran theologian, starting with his birth in Breslau (a city in Lower Silesia, now in Poland) to a well-to-do family.
This remarkable theologian who wrote The Cost of Discipleship 鈥� a study on the Sermon on the Mount 鈥� refused to assent the requirements of the Nazi regime, even as many German Protestants were swayed by Hitler鈥檚 anti-Semitisms and nationalist views 鈥� these Christians joined the Reich Church.
Two months before Hitler鈥檚 rise to power in November 1932, the German Protestants were divided between the Old-Prussian Union Evangelical Church, the nationalistic Deutsche Christen movement and the Young Reformers.
Bonhoeffer immediately became a reformer.
The pastor, theologian, writer and spy鈥檚 life ended with stark years spent in various prisons under the Nazi regime until Bonhoeffer鈥檚 execution.
In a time of political turmoil, Dietrich Bonhoeffer remained a man of integrity, as the Nazis increased their control over the nation鈥檚 churches.
Van Dyke wrote: 鈥淚n the spring of 1933, those in the German Lutheran Church who sided with the Nazis began to try to gain control over the National Church as whole.鈥� 听
A member of the German resistance movement, Bonhoeffer was killed in the Flossenb眉rg concentration camp on April 9, 1945, before the Allies arrived to liberate Germany.
Some German Christians were entranced with Hitler鈥檚 chauvinistic fervour and racial exceptionalism, but Bonhoeffer had been an outspoken leader in the Confessing Church in the early years of the Nazi regime.
The Bekennende Kirche (Confessing Church), intended to uphold Biblically based Christian beliefs and practices.
The Confessing Church understood that Christ, not the F眉hrer, acted as the head Germany鈥檚 church.
Van Dyke wrote 鈥淚n the early months of resistance (or the Confessing movement, as it would come to be known), Dietrich worked energetically with others to make a break from the German National Church.鈥�
Bonhoeffer produced a radio address two days after the Nazis officially came to power, defying Hitler and cautioning Germany about the developing cult surrounding the听F眉hrer, who the theologian, in a sarcastic wordplay, referred to as the听Verf眉hrer听(translated as misleader, or seducer).
Bonhoeffer鈥檚 broadcast was cut off in mid-sentence.
Bonhoeffer was also influenced by the ecumenical movement 鈥� a vast undertaking seeking to nurture Christian unity across denominations and around the world.
He left Germany in the autumn of 1933, to become a pastor at a German Lutheran Church in London.
While in England, Bonhoeffer hoped to use a network through ecumenical movement to support the Confessing Church in Germany.
Bonhoeffer had been a world-traveller long before he became a lecturer in systematic theology at the University of Berlin in 1931.
Previously, he served as an assistant pastor in Barcelona 1928.
Later, Bonhoeffer travelled to America and took postgraduate studies in New York鈥檚 Union Theological Seminary in 1930. But as Bonhoeffer pastored the church in London, he couldn鈥檛 stop reflecting on the Christians who were suffering at home under Nazi rule.
鈥淗is decision to leave was made on the spur of the moment, and it would soon plague his conscience, making his hiatus not entirely peaceful,鈥� Van Dyke noted.
Bonhoeffer decided to return to Germany in 1935. He became the head at an underground seminary in Finkenwalde for training Confessing Church pastors.
鈥淏y the summer of 1936, the Finkenwalde seminary had become known as a spiritual boot camp for the advance guard of the Confessing Church.鈥� (Van Dyke).
A fascinating story about a courageous hero, Michael Van Dyke鈥檚 book also explores aspects of Bonhoeffer鈥檚 theological beliefs.
In the Cost of Discipleship, published in 1937, Bonhoeffer talked about the differences between cheap grace and costly grace.
Van Dyke discussed Bonhoeffer鈥檚 position on the two versions of grace.
鈥淗e (Bonhoeffer) characterized costly grace as the grace that leads the recipient into a walk of obedience and true faith.鈥�
Bonhoeffer鈥檚 faith was based on Christ鈥檚 words and spirit, rather than the church as a weapon of officialdom, representing the absurd and triumphalist will of a far-right dictatorship.
He left Germany again for a brief stay in New York in June 1939, but returned soon after.
After Bonhoeffer resettled in Berlin, he joined the Abwehr, a German military intelligence organization 鈥� during this time, he worked as a double agent for the resistance.
鈥淗e travelled back and forth between Munich and Switzerland, meeting with contacts that had access to foreign leaders.鈥� (Van Dyke).
Bonhoeffer鈥檚 links with the resistance deepened and the Nazis grew suspicious of him once more.
His book on ethics remained unfinished, when Bonhoeffer was arrested by the Nazis in April, 1943. Although Bonhoeffer would remain incarcerated for the rest of his life until his death shortly after, his Christian faith remained strong.
In the book鈥檚 epilogue, Van Dyke wrote: 鈥淒ietrich Bonhoeffer鈥檚 life can serve as a model for twenty-first-century Christians who are faced with the prospect of newly emerging paganisms and overweening rulers.鈥� 听听听听听听听听听
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