“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltiness. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
As Adolf Hitler was busy seducing the nation, and trying to kill all the Jews in Europe, a number of protestors worked hard to break down the Third Reich from the inside. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of them – a Lutheran pastor and popular writer of spiritual books, mostly known for his classics “Life Together” and “The Cost of Discipleship”. The German theologian was born on February 4, 1906 and is best known for supporting anti-Nazi group and for being a part of plot to assassinate Hitler. His involvement in the assassination plot was the reason he was apprehended by the Gestapo and hanged on April 9, 1945. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was and still remains one of the very influential person in the world of Christianity.
The first biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer was written by Eric Mataxas and was published in August 2011. This biography was the winner of the Christian Book of the Year 2011, and was also a New York Times best seller. The New York Times best selling book takes two strands of the life of Bonhoeffer – the spy and the theologian – and draws them all in one to tell a story of the unbelievable moral braveness during the evil Nazi ruling. In the biographical story, Eric uses relevant facts and documents including firsthand personal accounts, detailed journal entries and personal letters to present the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer like never before.
In “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy” Eric presents the complete accounting of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s hear-wrenching decision in 1939 to leave the American heaven for the Hitler’s evil Germany. By showing lengthened excerpts from coded messages and love letters written from and to Bonhoeffer’s Cell 92, Eric shows the entire story of the tragic and passionate romance of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The readers of the book will discover revelations and fresh insights about the life of Bonhoeffer at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem and his radical position on why the Christian people are obligated to protect the Jews.
The book “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy” shows the extraordinary faith of one man and the destiny of the entire nation from the curse of Nazism. It takes the reader directly face to face with a man willing to carry out the will of God courageously, joyfully and radically, even if it costs him his life. The biography of Bonhoeffer is the story of a life filled with passion and commitment for justice for those who suffered by the merciless evil.