I’m a student of history. And the more I look at it, the more I recognize a certain pattern. God sends spiritual giants who change the course of church history in waves.
One wave was made evident around 1926 and continued through the 1940s. In three different countries.
Three choice vessels of God began publishing then. They had lots of similarities in the testimony they bore regarding the supremacy of Jesus Christ and His church.
Those three vessels were:
Watchman Nee in China.
T. Austin-Sparks in England.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Germany.
In the coming days, I’m going to be blogging through Bonhoeffer’s complete works.
Bonhoeffer was first and foremost a theologian. And as a theologian, he’s one of my favorites.
I’ll begin by recommending a recent biography written about him, which may be the best ever written on his life. 
It’s called Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
If you like reading biographies, you’ll want to own this one. Click on the link above to see a movie trailer and read endorsements and reviews. I own the book and love it.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post: It’s called Advice for Christian Authors. It will contain advice for established authors, first-time authors, and those toying with the idea of writing a book.
Blogging Through Bonhoeffer: Part II
Blogging Through Bonhoeffer: Part III
Blogging Through Bonhoeffer: Part IV
Blogging Through Bonhoeffer: Part V
Blogging Through Bonhoeffer: Part VI
Blogging Through Bonhoeffer: Part VII
I Was Wrong About Book Endorsements
Thanks for this. I am enjoying studying Bonhoeffer while doing my training.
I own an audio book version of The Cost of Discipleship, but haven’t had time to listen to it much yet. Other than that I don’t know much about Bonhoeffer. Out of curiousity I would like to read that biography. Also makes me wonder; did Bonhoeffer write anything on God’s eternal purpose?
Carry on! I’ve long been interested in all three of these men beginning in my college days. Carry on!
I just finished reading the biography by Eric Metaxas and absolutely loved it! I look forward to reading your posts.
Zoe: DB was neo-rthodox in his view of biblical inspiration, but orthodox in his theology and his alignment with the basic creeds. Both Challies and Sojourners seem to reflect the idea that neo-orthodoxy is dishonestly camouflaged liberalism (?). (I’m told that Cornelius van Til attacked Karl Barth the same way.)
Those who hold to H. Lindsell’s ‘the battle for the Bible’ perspective regard orthodox Christianity to include a nuanced view of verbal inspiration. And any view that doesn’t equate to it is a departure from the fundamentals. So these folks would view neo-evangelicalism as profoundly compromised and neoorthodoxy as heretical.
Neo-evangelicals like Bruce, Ramm, Ockenga, Bloesch, etc. rejected this point of view in their time and saw Barth, Bonhoeffer, and Brunner as essentially orthodox. Yet neo-orthodox in their view of inspiration.
I’m not neo-orthodox myself. But neither am I fundamentalist in my view of inspiration. I’d be much closer to F.F. Bruce’s view on this question. And like him, I regard Bonhoeffer and Barth as being orthodox, yet neo-orthodox in their view of inspiration.
My next book discusses this whole issue some in fact.
Zoe: part of the problem here is the false dichotomy that exists between “evangelical” (used in the narrow American sense of the word) and “Liberal.” A person can be thoroughly orthodox yet not evangelical nor liberal. It doesn’t surprise me that Challies and Sojourners would view DB in much the same way given their theological perspectives. More later.
I’ve heard of this biography, and I’ll probably check it out. That said, there are a lot of people with concerns about its accuracy – namely, feeling like Metaxes ignored lots of historical data in order to portray D.B. as an evangelical. When everyone from Tim Challies to Sojourners Magazine agrees on something, I usually pay attention! 🙂
WOW. 600 pages for someone who only lived to be 39. Amazing. I can’t think of any biography I’ve seen that is that large. The version of Life Together I have has a short biography in the front and I was blown away when I read it.
A documentary was released in 2003 called “Bonhoeffer” that is available on Netflix’s “instant play” feature.
I’m looking forward to this series, I love Bonhoeffer’s works. I bought the above mentioned biography for my wife as a Christmas gift and she finished in two weeks, she’s told me a lot about it and I can’t wait to read it myself. I’m currently reading The Cost of Discipleship myself.
Nee and Bonhoeffer are two of my favorite authors ever. I discovered them both as a brand new Christian 40 years ago. They helped stir God’s flame in my heart!