Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas

I have finally finished the book, Bonhoeffer, by Eric Metaxas. It only took me 2 1/2 months to complete it. I love biographies, but this book was difficult to read. I appreciate the fact that Mr. Metaxas was so careful and so complete with Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s story, but I kept wishing for cliff notes on Bonhoeffer’s life! After the first four chapters of the book (which deals with lots of letters from Dietrich to his grandmother and twin sister), the reading was somewhat easier. But I found myself laying this book down for a week at a time when I am an avid reader--especially of biographies. And I’d always been interested in reading of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life.

Bonhoeffer became outspoken from the outset of Hitler’s political rise to power. He said this in a speech, “A true leader must know the limitations of his authority. If he understands his function in any other way than as it is rooted in fact, if he does not continually tell his followers quite clearly of the limited nature of his task and of their own responsibility, if he allows himself to surrender to the wishes of his followers, who would always make him their idol—then the image of the Leader will pass over into the image of the mis-leader…”  And we all know where Hitler's ideals led him.

The interesting thing in this book is how the “church” dealt with a leader like Hitler in their country. It became divided. Instead of searching for and standing on truth, the “German Christians” chose to adopt the Aryan Paragraph which stated the Jews were to live separately. Jews would not have the right to government jobs or spiritual leadership. Bonhoeffer vehemently opposed this position and was very outspoken about it.

Throughout the book, you can tell Mr. Metaxas has very high regard for Dietrich Bonhoeffer who endured much for his faith in Jesus Christ. If you want to read a detailed book of Bonhoeffer’s life, this is the book for you!

I give this book 2 1/2 stars out of 5 for difficulty in reading.  I'd give it a 5 out of 5 stars for information.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255