Born in 1906, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was the son of a professor of psychiatry. He grew up in academic surroundings and in 1930 was appointed lecturer in systematic theology at Berlin University. In 1933 he made his first attack on Hitler's political ideas. Two years later, after a period spent in England, he was forbidden to teach and banned from Berlin by Nazi authorities. At the outbreak of war, against the advice of all his friends, he gave up the security of the U.S.A., where he was on a lecture tour, and returned to Germany to work for the Confessing Church and the political opposition to Hitler. He was arrested in April, 1943, and two years later, after imprisonment in Buchenwald, he was hanged at Flossenburg.

The Way to Freedom: Letters, Lectures and Notes from the Collected Works (The Fontana Library)

Bowden, John

BONHOEFFER, DIETRICH

Robertson, E.H.

Religion & Spirituality

HarperCollins, Publishers

A Dangerous Theologian: The morals of a martyr are not necessarily the best rules to live by. This simple fact has been emphasized many times during the past few years, as the new theology has given birth to the new morality. The much quoted aphorism of St. Augustine, 'Love God and do as you please', was recognized long ago as a dangerous slogan, which did not always encourage high living, despite its beauty and truth. The same danger has been seen in the teaching of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. What seemed right to a man in prison, about to die for his faith, is hardly a suitable set of rules for a generation of students brought up in the prosperity of a welfare state. And so Bonhoeffer is dangerous. He gives men an excuse for lax standards in their private lives and makes an irregular attender at church feel the comfort and support of a better man than himself! When Bonhoeffer says, 'How little I miss the church services', he is not lying in bed unwilling to get up. An earlier age would have put the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeﬂer on the index during his lifetime and discouraged posthumous publication. The weaker brethren would have been protected from this heady draft of free thinking. There have been times during the past few years when I could have wished for such powers to withhold the 'Letters and Papers from Prison' from publication until the other works had been read. These wonderful letters have been so misused that the inﬂuence of Bonhoeifer has more than once run out into shallow sands. So many people have thrilled to the ideas in those letters of the church being abolished or distinctive Christian standards being abandoned. So few have taken the trouble to read the careful basis for Bonhoeifer's revolutionary ideas in his published works? There is no doubt that the letters form prison are exciting. When they were published, it was hoped that they would encourage readers to turn to his more considered works ...

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

John Knox Press

The Biblical Bases of Healing

Hyperion Books

The Fire of Love: A Life of Igino Giordani "Foco"

Biographies & Memoirs

New City Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Robertson, E.H.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Robertson, E.H.