Theologian of Resistance: The Life and Thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

by Christiane Tietz

Since Dietrich Bonhoeffer's death in 1945, executed by the Nazis as a political dissident, he has continued to fascinate and compel readers as a theologian, witness, and martyr. Bonhoeffer's theological brilliance, committed discipleship, ecumenical insight, and courageous participation in the struggle against fascism have profoundly shaped contemporary Christian understanding and action. In John W. de Gruchy's estimate, had Bonhoeffer lived “he might have dominated the theological scene in the second half of the twentieth century in succession to Karl Barth, Rudolf Bultmann, and Paul Tillich. As it was, he became the paradigmatic martyr-theologian” for our time. In this new biography, Christiane Tietz masterfully portrays the interconnectedness of Bonhoeffer's life and thought, theology and politics, discipleship, witness, and resistance, tracing the path from his childhood to his imprisonment and execution. Brief, lucid, and imminently accessible, Tietz's new account brings Bonhoeffer's story and work to life in a vivid retelling, unfolding his important and widely read texts, and including new, previously unseen pictures.