I am constantly amazed at the number of Christians I meet who have never heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This little book could go a long way toward remedying that situation. Although much of Bonhoeffer's work is difficult to understand, this helpful little volume selects from the among the best and clearest of his writings. In a day when so many Christians are happy to limit their reading to only the lightest of reads, this little book could do a lot to help them to the so-called "next level." The book would be a great volume for discussion groups interested in exploring Bonhoeffer's thought.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a martyr,saint theologian, writer and witness. His writings, from which these exerpts have been gleaned, can be dense filled with obtuse terminology,and somewaht dry. These exerpts are clear, straightfoward, and life affirmimng[as all good theology should be]Bonhoeffer has become celebrated for his concept,developing during his final days, of a churchless Christianity. That controversy is not going to bed quite yet, though I think it ignores the basic fact that He was a practising churchman, very involved in the scarements and in developing future pastors at Finkenwalde...Either way, this is an excellent introduction to Bonhoeffer, from Coles introduction to the exerpts of all his major works{Life together,Ethics, Christ the Center, The Cost of Discipleship and Letters and papers from prison} this is the best introduction to the seminal churman of his time, and one of the greatest men of the past century.

...I have been nervous about Bonhoeffer's work until I picked up this slim volume. Although it is meant to be read day by day, I finished it in under two hours. Bonhoeffer was so uplifting, despite his final days, and this book perfectly takes his thoughts and compresses them into enough snippets that make you want to read more. I am a curious layperson who strongly recommends this little book with big ideas.

It's an excellent dramatization of the life of Bonhoeffer. I'd never heard of him until I heard this drama. It's historical, and masterfully done by the crew at Radio Theater and Focus on the Family. Definitely worth listening to.

For the parents: I'd definitely suggest you listen along with younger children...in the beginning as a precursor to the drama, and then in the end, in the actual drama, Bonhoeffer is led to the execution, read his sentence, and then, as you hear Dietrich's panicked breathing, the trapdoor falls, the rope goes taunt, and you can hear the weight of a body swinging back and forth from the gallows. An intense scene for youngsters. But history is history, and that's what happened.

Very dramatic, very worth listening to.

No doubt this outstanding drama has brought the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer at least as much attention as all of his books have combined. This excellent radio drama won the Peabody Award for good reason: it is an incredible radio play of the highest quality. From start to finish, this amazing work has all the essential elements of good fiction- - but it is historically true ! Drama, suspense, action, intrigue, romance, sacrifice, faith, and hope for the future all shine brightly in this stirring performance of a man who fought against the Nazi Machine. This unique and fresh look at the life of a German who plotted against Adolph Hitler "from the inside" needs to be heard by anyone with an interest in history. So many of the history books today tells us that Christians did nothing to help the Jews against the Nazi machine. This fine drama dispells this mistaken belief with a sincere dignity and open appeal that is both inspiring and enriching. Definitely a "must listen to" for any high school or college history student.

Dietrich Bonhöffer was a man who found that he had to choose between his conscience and convenience. That he is a true hero is proven by his choice.

At at time when most of the German church knuckled under Nazi threats and stayed silent or even acted in complicity with the Holocaust, he courageously joined the Confessing Church to oppose Nazism, and later pretended to cooperate with the Nazis so that he could help smuggle Jews to safety.

Bonhöffer's courageous struggle against a storm of religious intolerance and racial hatred maintains its relevance today.

This is an excellent audio dramatization of his life. Both exciting and inspiring, it captures the drama and conviction of this man's life.

It also won the prestigious Peabody Award in 1997. (This award recognizes distinguished achievement and meritorious public service by radio and television networks, stations, producing organizations, cable television organizations and individuals and is administered by the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.)

About 20 years ago, I read an older translation of this biography. Then, as now, a reader cannot help but be impressed by the thorough and meticulous scholarship that went into its preparation. Because of its size and scope (900+ pages), it may be somewhat daunting to new readers who may be just now encountering Bonhoeffer. However, given the nature of his literary output (Bonheoffer was still a young man when he died, and many of his ideas exist only in limited or underdeveloped forms), this in-depth look at the man and his motivations by the individual who probably knew him best is essential to an informed understanding of his work. For Bonhoeffer admirers, it doesn't get any better than this.

Eberhard Bethge was Dietrich Bonhoeffer's closest friend and the lifelong editor and interpreter of his life and writings. For the first time we now have the completely unabridged biography in a revised and updated English translation. This is not only a classic of twentieth century biography; it also addresses key issues not only of German and European history, World War II, and the Holocaust but also, through Bonhoeffer's theology, the church and modernity. It sharply poses the question of authentic Christian life. A big book and a challenging read!

In this work, Bonhoeffer's student and friend brought me closer to Bonhoeffer than I thought possible. Previously, I had thought Letters and Papers From Prison was as close as I could get to understanding the "religionless" Christian -I was wrong. Bethge's opus gives an incisive look into the formation of Bonhoeffer the man and the theologian which sheds more light on his Christian fortitude in the Nazi tempest. I whole-heartedly recommend this work for it has been an inspiration to me as a human being as well as a student of theology

Bonhoeffer was not a well-recognized figure outside of Germany when he made the decision to return to his native country from America despite the fact that the Nazis had seized power and were persecuting any who resisted their domination. Bonhoeffer had already come a long way in developing a theology of 'discipleship' and 'costly grace', and he put that theology into action when he returned to Germany and joined those who were resisting Nazi rule.

As one of the major figures of the minority 'Confessing Church' (along with Karl Barth) who rejected Nazism's total claims on the churches, Bonhoeffer spoke out in favour of the Jews, whom he called 'the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ'. He was arrested by the Gestapo on suspicion of being part of a group planning to assassinate Hitler. Then, just weeks before the end of the war and Hitler's suicide, he and his co-conspirators were executed, hung by piano-wire before the dictator's malicious eyes.

In the almost sixty years since his death, Bonhoeffer's influence has continued to grow as more and more people have encountered his forward-thinking theology and the way it was lived out concretely in his life. Today he is fast surpassing Barth and Tillich as the major (German) Protestant theologian of the 20th century. There is good reason for this: Bonhoeffer was an original thinker, and all his thoughts came out of a concrete experience of God in real life, and the quest to serve and follow God - always a dynamic process - rather than serving rigid 'principles' that can never fully encompass the divine will.

This book makes for an excellent introduction to this powerful theologian's work. Serious students may then wish to turn to the full volumes of 'The Cost of Discipleship', 'Ethics' (Bonhoeffer's unfinished masterpiece), and the important and compassionate 'Letters and Papers from Prison'. Learn why this is the man many are calling not only a martyr, but also a saint.

The translations of Bonhoeffer's works by Simon & Schuster are almost unreadable. This translation reads like real English spoken by real people. The ideas expressed are powerful and reveal Bonhoeffer's dedication to knowing and following the will of God. Get it, read it, follow it.

This new, revised edition adds a new chapter on Bonhoeffer's Ethics. It also includes a thirty page appendix containing newly discovered letters between Bonhoeffer and Paul Lehmann (which reveal details of Bonhoeffer's work in the resistance movement), and between Lehmann and members of Bonhoeffer's family. All notes are updated to refer to the new English and German editions of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, and to the new revised and unabridged edition of Eberhard Bethge's classic biogrtaphy of Bonhoeffer. Also new are a Select Bibliography and a substantial index.

I am writing as a layman, interested in Bonhoeffer's story ever since discovering his "Letters and Papers From Prison," which moved me deeply when I first read it more than a decade ago. I spent much of a year attempting to translate that book into a full-length play, and in the process became more familiar with it, eventually concluding that for a lay audience, his story is too ineffably sad. After a couple of readings, I put it away. I understand that there has been a growing outpouring of scholarship devoted to Bonhoeffer in the years since then, and this book has been my first encounter with it. Having said all that, I'd like to express my appreciation to the authors for their effort to shed a new, welcome light on Bonhoeffer's life and work.

In a world and at a time when movie stars and new age advocates speak easily of "spirituality," it was brave for the authors to characterize their perspective on Bonhoeffer with this word. While admitting in the introduction that they could not settle on a definition of the term themselves, they proceed to discuss the various aspects of Bonhoeffer's life, actions, and faith in terms of his devotion to Jesus Christ. In exploring the evidence of his living faith, in word and deed, they represent Bonhoeffer as an example of moral leadership in a specific time and place in human history. And the result is to make this somewhat enigmatic man and his ideas more accessible for us today.

What comes across for me most strongly in the book is how much Bonhoeffer's writings and actions were a direct response to the Nazi government and the acquiesence of the German Lutheran Church. The issues that drive what he has to say reflect specific actions and policies of the government and the inaction of the church, which allowed its authority to be coopted by Hitler and the rising tide of German nationalism. The concept of "cheap grace" in "The Cost of Discipleship" is not an abstraction but a direct reference to the church's real lack of moral leadership at a time when resistance to the Nazi regime was most needed.

The book portrays the personal drama of a man who kept his personal life very private (one cannot imagine him on a talk show discussing his "spirituality"). The authors give us glimpses of his private world in reports of those who remember him, but nowhere is the private man seen so openly as in his intimate letters to Bethge and in the prison poems, which the authors devote the last chapter to. Here we find both the tentativeness behind his outward courage and the depth of his devotion to his chief source of strength. I have found this book very readable and recommend it to anyone with a basic knowledge of Bonhoeffer and a curiosity about how this man lived out his faith and remained steadfast to the end.

In late 1942, theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "... the power of some needs the folly of others. It is not that [intellectual capacities] become stunted or destroyed, but rather that the upsurge of power makes such an overwhelming impression that men are deprived of their independent judgment, and -- more or less unconsciously -- give up trying to assess the new state of affairs for themselves. The fact that the fool is often stubborn must not mislead us into thinking that he is independent. One feels in fact, when talking to him, that one is dealing, not with the man himself, but with slogans, catchwords, and the like, which have taken hold of him. ... folly can be overcome, not by instruction, but only by an act of liberation... a person's inward liberation to live a responsible life before God is the only real cure for folly."
Folly and Bonhoeffer were on a collision course.
During his long imprisonment by the Nazi regime, Bonhoeffer corresponded with members of his family. Many of these letters were collected, and later published, by Eberhard Bethge, Bonhoeffer's niece's husband. The letters between Bonhoeffer and Bethge, his intellectual and spiritual confidant, are the most insightful in terms of revealing the intellectual Bonhoeffer. Although his life hangs in the balance, Bonhoeffer only occasionally speaks of his own welfare, and then apologetically and only in passing. With Bethge, and to a lesser extent with his father and others, he prefers directing his thoughts to a great breadth of interests -- art, history, music, philosophy, physics, psychology, sociology, theology. With all correspondents, Bonhoeffer expresses constant concern for their welfare, as well as for the welfare of his fellow prisoners and even his Nazi guards. We continually have statements like this one:
"I wish you much joy and don't want you to be disturbed by any thoughts about me. I have every reason to be so infinitely grateful about everything. ... the prisoners and guards here keep saying how they are 'amazed' (?!) at my tranquillity and cheerfulness. I myself am always amazed about remarks of this kind. But isn't it rather nice?"
To 'flesh-out' the context for Bonhoeffer's letters, Bethge has included much of the letter writing of his correspondents, and you may choose not to read all of this material. The reader should quickly notice that the language of the letters is, in some passages, less than frank, as in Bonhoeffer's seemingly exaggerated statements of patriotism. One must remember his position, and that of his family. Bonhoeffer speaks of a desire to be able to speak freely one day, to converse face to face. To serve as a pastor, to counsel others, to be a husband to his fiancee, to support and care for his family, to study and write.
The Nazis, sadly, had a different agenda.

From April 1943 to April 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a prisoner of the Gestapo. Suspected of participating in a plot against Hitler, he was eventually executed in the closing days of World War II. This book is a collection of letters he wrote from prison to his family, his fiancee Maria, and his dearest friend Eberhard.

Bonhoeffer was in his late 30s when he was arrested. He was a Lutheran theologian, who had publicly questioned the rise of fascism and anti-Semitism in Germany and was systematically silenced by Hitler's government, unable finally to publish any of his writings or to preach in any pulpit. Along with other members of his family, Bonhoeffer secretly participated in an effort led by officers of Army Intelligence to undermine the war effort. Attempting to build a case against him, the Gestapo kept him a prisoner, awaiting trial. Incriminating evidence did not emerge until after the July 1944 attempt on Hitler's life. And at this point the letters stop, as Bonhoeffer was transported to another prison and eventually to a series of concentration camps.

The letters in this volume describe in detail the routines of prison life. And they offer a glimpse of life lived by ordinary civilians during months of aerial bombardments, as the fabric of daily life slowly crumbles. They also reveal the thoughts and emotions of a man whose faith in God and trust in survival are put to the severest test. While he is remembered by those who knew him in his last months as a fiercely brave, courageous, and selfless man, we see in the letters his inner turmoil, his fear, loneliness, and sense of isolation in a world his theology never imagined.

Included in the collection are polite and cheerful love letters to the young Maria von Wedemeyer, to whom he has proposed marriage. And more deeply moving still are his heart-felt letters to Eberhard Bethge, a fellow clergyman and dearly loved friend. It was Bethge, many years later, who collected these letters and published them; he has also written an extensive biography of Bonhoeffer. (The letters to Maria von Wedemeyer have been published separately as "Love Letters from Cell 92"). A collection of Bethge's essays on Dietrich Bonhoeffer was publisehd in 1995 under the title "Friendship and Resistance." They portray Bonhoeffer's friendship with Bethge and describe how the prison letters between them survived.

Bonhoeffer's life should have been that of a theologian much respected in his own time who, in a large body of work, advanced an understanding of God for a modern, secular world. His years cut short, we can only guess what his final contribution would have been. But the letters are an inspiring testament to a life lived without compromise or despair, in the face of overwhelmingly destructive forces.

Closing this book and setting it down on my desk, I feel that it should be one of the most depressing books I've ever read, and to many it may be. Happily, it's one of the most encouraging. Wow, how great this book is!

Bonhoeffer's letters begin shortly after the time of his arrest in Berlin in the Spring of 1943. The letters in this collection are mainly those written to his parents and his associate (and husband to his niece) in the German Confessing Church where he was pastor, Eberhard Bethge. At first these letters are fairly basic and simple reassurances of his well-being and encouragements to his friends and family. There is not simply a hope that he will be released from the Tegel Interrogation Prison where he was being held, but an almost naive expectation that his release will be soon. Gradually, with time, Bonhoeffer clearly begins to see the truth of his imprisonment and the reality that he'll probably only be freed upon the defeat of Germany and liberation by the Allied Forces. But it is with this realization that Bonhoeffer's letters become stronger, more passionate, more philosophical, and simply more powerful.

Anyone could forgive Bonhoeffer for having become depressed, bitter, and hopeless during his horrendous, Kafkaesque, imprisonment. But amazingly, his spirit is lifted in the opposite direction as his detention carries on. People can debate what the cause of this irrational hope and joy was due to (although Bonhoeffer never appears delusional; rather, very grounded), but Bonhoeffer himself makes it clear throughout that his hope and strength is due entirely, in his belief, to Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit.

Eventually, after many letters and papers filled with short stories, poems, pastoral sermons, and theological debates, Bonhoeffer's letters become shorter, less frequent, and more direct, due to the closing of the war and his implication (among hundreds) in the assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944. But even in these final letters, he is positive and encouraging to his family. Finally, Bonhoeffer's letters stop, and we know from other sources that he died one of the most miserable deaths imaginable, via executionary hanging in the Flossenburg concentration camp, as the Nazis, sensing their downfall, began to eradicate every witness to their crimes. But from his letters we can know what Bonhoeffer would have told us upon learning this: "Death is the supreme festival on the road to freedom." Someone who can write that and truly mean it (i.e. not in some hypothetical sense), is either a complete fool, or knows something that many others do not. I believe with Bonhoeffer, the latter applies.

Besides the Word of God (the bible), there are three other books every Christian should read, if he/she is serious about their faith.

Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan; The Cost of Discipleship by D. Bonhoeffer, and this book, Life Together, by the same author. This book changed my perspective...totally, on how to live with 'my neighbour.' Think you really do love your neighbour? What about your brother and sister in the Lord? With so many church splits, arguments over trivial doctrinal issues, petty squabbles, and gossip justified as 'good ol' christian concern', this book is needed. It shows how we are REALLY to treat one another. Patterned after Christ, and based in scripture--this book is a must.

Christain martyr Deitrich Bonhoeffer wrote this book to aid its Christian reader in Christian living through the miriad of daily activities. Although it's only about 100 pages, it's a whale of a helpful book.

It takes a little reading to get used to Bonhoeffer's style (prose), but once you can read "Life Together" fluidly, it hits you like a machine gun: practical advice followed by rationalle; practical advice followed by rationalle; etc. Among the topics covered are components to daily, family devotions, the relationship between work and worship; a new way of looking at Psalms and hymns; the importance of daily showing love through your actions so that you can spread the word of Christ; ways to guard against conflict in a church (as if there is ever conflict at voters meetings. Ha!)

This book won't take you very long at all to read, but the thoughts you take away from it will churn in your head for weeks. You'll find yourself turning back to the book re-read a section or two. You'll kick yourself for not reading it sooner. I know I have. HIGHLY recommended.

Life Together stands apart as the best book on the church in the 20th century. Few theologians write with such practical, common sense. Few church growth pastors write with such theological depth. The mix of deep Christ-centered theology and ideas for living in community as a daily practice are what make Bonhoeffer's Life Together such a classic. Okay, I disagree with some of his overly strict opinions about communal life, such as his ban on singing in harmony. But these small critiques are minor compared with the riches that can be easily mined from this treasure mountain of a book on the challenges and glories of life together within the community called the Body of Christ, the Church.

For two other books on life together, written for parents as encouragement for the daily holy calling of raising children, look for "The Family Cloister: Benedictine Wisdom for the Home", by David Robinson (New York: Crossroad, 2000) and "The Christian Family Toolbox: 52 Benedictine Activities for the Home", also by David Robinson (New York: Crossroad, September 2001).

In recent years, there has been a great deal of controversy about fiction masquerading as biography. (One thinks of Edmund Morris's DUTCH: A MEMOIR OF RONALD REAGAN and Joe McGinniss's THE LAST BROTHER, his fictionalized biography of Ted Kennedy.) In the case of CUP OF WRATH, there seems to be no doubt that fiction has been employed very ably to tell the story of the life and times of German Resistance hero and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Given the paucity of Bonhoeffer's extant writings about himself--primarily if not exclusively assembled in his friend Eberhard Bethge's DIETRICH BONHOEFFER: LETTERS & PAPERS FROM PRISON--this book offers what may be the closest approximation possible to an inner life of the German theologian and political activist. It portrays very skillfully the inner turmoil which a Christian pacifist and idealist faced when confronting the evils of Hitler and the Third Reich--and the seemingly inevitable need to take violent action to bring the criminal regime down. Given the author's ready access to Bonhoeffer's surviving relatives and colleagues, and their review of the book in draft, this fictional biography offers a sense of verity and immediacy that few nonfiction biographies provide. The character development and interaction among members of the protagonist's family, friends, and colleagues are exceptionally well done. Further, none of the conversations in the book seems artificial. Particularly noteworthy are the final pages, narrating Bonhoeffer's torment and death at the hands of the S.S., while faced with the torture and deaths of many of his fellow members of the Resistance. I have read few books on either Nazi Germany or totalitarianism in general that so vividly portrayed the dilemma faced by people of good will when forced to deal with the ultimate evil. It is hard to believe that this book is only the author's first--or that it has not gotten more of the recognition it deserves.

This is an incredible story, and is a must read whether or not you are interested in World War II history. The author vividly recreates the era of the thirties and forties in Nazi Germany and allows you to gain deep insight into the mind and character of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Before reading this book, I had only heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This incredible story showed me in great detail what a holy man he truly was. You will find yourself drawn into the intrigues of the anti-Hitler conspiracy. The bravery and courage of this gentle man against such an evil regime is sobering, particularly given the moral relativism which is so prevalent today. I have been reading World War II history, and the history of Nazi Germany for over 30 years. Not until I finished this book did I truly comprehend the evil that Adolf Hitler represented. For her first novel Mary Glazener was magnificant!!

I want you to read this book ASAP. You will find yourself surrounded by a world of demons and dense schemes of evil. In the midst of lies, destruction, hate and abuse. You will notice that once generations have made their choice to tolerate and serve evil, the time will come when there is no turning back. But you will live with those who kept on walking. You will live and breathe with them, who sought comfort and way by listening to God. What do you do, when evil sneeks over your doorstep with a winning smile ? Is it possible to stop or overcome a devilish structure of oppression and death such as the Nazi State ? You'll find anwer in this book. Be amazed by the light of warm love and determination to help and save. See it shining even in the midst of a military secret service , the "Abwehr". One feels reminded of Masada and Yad Vashem. Yes, you will cry and rejoice with Dietrich, Mary, Josef Müller, Admiral Canaris, persecuted Christian and Jewish people and all the others who walked on. Excellent research makes this story factual. The story is close. Very close. This book will change your life.

I imagine many of you reading this have read _The Cost of Discipleship_. Having just completed _Ethics_, I feel it is a superior work. I was constantly challenged as I was reading to rethink many of my assumptions about ethics from a Christian perspective. The portion at the end about "telling the truth" is alone worth the price of the book.

A couple of difficulties I had were that many sections were left incomplete with a bare outline to indicate where he was heading. Also, some of the latter portion of the book was very heavy on historical Lutheran wrtings, of which I am quite unfamiliar.

It was certainly stimulating for me as an american to read a quite different perspective on some issues, e.g. submissive relationships. It is typical in this country for people to feel that all rules should apply equally to all. Of course this is absurd when applied to parent/child or teacher/student or ruler/subject relations. Since ethics has to do with how people act towards other people, the actual type of relationship involved has to play a role in how to think about ethical behaviour from one individual to another.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book on "Ethics" reveals an underlying message that runs deeper than just a "how to" guide on ethical behavior. This message is that Jesus Christ was more than a prophet, more than an enlightened man and more than a guide for life. Mr. Bonhoeffer understood that Jesus Christ was his personal savior from sin and his only key to eternal life with God, the I AM, Jehovah, Adonai Elohim of Jewish history recorded in the bible, i.e. Holy Scriptures. Without knowing God in the person of Jesus, humanity has no empowerment to know unconditional love and the resulting ethical behavior that Mr. Bonhoeffer so eloquently reveals as a result of that love. This book has weaved within the surface of conscious law, the redemptive work of Christ as payment for the sin of the world, and our resulting praise in ethical living no longer demanded by God, but now offered in thanks to Him. If you are looking for an enhanced understanding of our position in God's spiritual kingdom while on earth, then "Ethics" (with support of Holy Scriptures) offers a marvelous insight into that ethical position. It has revealed many truths in my own life that now afford me better understanding and opportunity to align my life with that of Jesus Christ. It is true that you will gain a deeper understanding of humanity's spiritual nature, but if you allow the Holy Spirit to deepen your faith, you will also come to know a love of God beyond measure, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer found fulfilled in the life and teachings of Jesus. Blessings!

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a rare individual. He transcended the human plane as he practiced what he taught. This is his last writing, and it is unfinished because he was executed in prison for living the ethics he preached. In this book, Bonhoeffer states, "Ethics as formation, then, means the bold endeavor to speak about the way in which the form of Jesus Christ takes form in our world, in a manner which is neither abstract nor casuistic, neither programmatic nor purely speculative." Partly because his theology would not allow a speculative ethic, Bonhoeffer returned from the safety of New York City to a Germany ruled by the insanity called National Socialism. There, he became a leader, along with Martin Niemueller and Karl Barth, in the "bekennende Kirche" opposing National Socialism and an advocate on behalf of Jewish People. His efforts earned him imprisonment in 1943. As the Second European War (1939-1945) came to a close, Bonhoeffer was hanged until dead in the concentration camp at Flossenburg. Dietrich Bonoeffer understood the cost of discipleship. I think that this book has something to offer people who have faith, regardless of creed. It is written by someone of strong convictions, and is inspiring to me as I develop my own ethical standards. It is not easy to develop a spiritual relationship in a temporal world. Reading "Ethics" increased my resolve and desire to try. If you are interested in learning about Christianity and ethics from someone who lived what he taught, this book will be interesting to you.