Radical Integrity:
The Story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Book
Review)
On a recent flight home, my wife
picked up a copy of Michael Van Dyke’s book, Radical Integrity: The Story
of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, published by Barbour Publishing, Ohio,
2001. It wouldn’t have been my choice as I thought I had learned as much as I
needed to know about the key character having already read The Collected Sermons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, edited by
Isabel Best, and published by Fortress Press, 2012. But I was wrong.
While Bonhoeffer’s sermons tell
us much of what he was thinking and believing and communicating, Van Dyke’s
book, tells us why. The author takes us from his childhood and youth right up
to his death in 1945, just weeks before his dream for Germany (the defeat of
Hitler) came to pass. Van Dyke very masterfully shares with us all the things
and the people that Bonhoeffer treasured in his life including his twin sister Sabine;
later Maria, his fiancée; and solitude. And he covers the young German’s
struggles with career choices, army enlistment, the German Church that caved to
the Nazis, and his role in trying to assassinate Adolf Hitler, to name but a
few.
Throughout the book are woven
several themes that express Bonhoeffer’s views, not the least of which are what
it means to be a Christian today, what is the role of the Church in world
events, and pacifism vs. militarism for the Christian. Finally, there is no
doubt Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a prisoner in the various holding camps of the Nazis,
after being hung, was remembered by many fellow prisoners and guards as one who
lived his life with radical integrity.
At just 205 pages, you’ll find
this book fascinating not only because of the insights it presents into
Bonhoeffer’s life, and the many quotable quotes that the book is sprinkled with
(both Dietrich’s and Van Dyke’s), but also because of the fact that you cannot
help, as you read it, but ask yourself, “What would I have done?” or “What do I
believe?” Recommended to help round out
your knowledge of this pastor, professor, brilliant mind, and martyr, as well
as your own thinking of the various theological and practical Christian issues
it addresses.
In fact, in light of what is
going on in the world today with ISIL, one would be highly advised to read it
and really ask him/herself the question, “What will I do?” The parallels of what happened in Germany
between the end of WWI and the end of WWII, with what may well happen in the
decades ahead for much of the West if we, our politicians, and our church
leaders remain silent, may strike you as remarkable.
-- Ken B. Godevenos, http://www.accordconsulting.com, Toronto,
Ontario. 15/09/15Thanks for dropping by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting. And while you’re here, why not check out some more of our recent blogs shown in the right hand column. Ken.
It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.
