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Bonhoeffer Speaks Today: Following Jesus at all Costs

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A book may inform. A book may delight. When a book achieves both goals there is great joy in the reading of it. Bonhoeffer Speaks Today: Following Jesus at All Costs is just such a book. Written by Dr. Mark DeVine, professor of Christian theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, this new release from Broadman & Holman shows the significance of the life and theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The publication coincides with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the German theologian.

Bonhoeffer wrote the popular works The Cost of Discipleship and Ethics. However, he is best known for his role in opposing Nazism and conspiring to help assassinate Adolf Hitler. In a day when the vast majority of the German church acquiesced to Hitler, Bonhoeffer led an opposition group known as "the Confessing Church". Near the end of the war, he was arrested and executed in a concentration camp.

The first chapter of DeVine's work is worth the price of the book because of the lively biographical account of Bonhoeffer. DeVine is a master story-teller, showing the difficult times in which Bonhoeffer lived out his short thirty-nine years.

DeVine does not attempt to cover all of Bonhoeffer's thought. Rather, he shows the relevance of Bonhoeffer to current evangelical Christianity by focusing on four areas of concern.

First, Bonhoeffer wrote a great deal about knowing and doing the will of God. Rather than waiting for a direct divine word from God, he argued for submissive obedience to written Scripture. Bonhoeffer said, "Do not get into the habit of interpreting Scripture in light of personal experience. Do not measure God's word. Let it measure my word, my life." DeVine contrasts this with much of evangelical piety:

"As a Southern Baptist, I rarely encounter a sermon or participate in a Bible study or small-group session without hearing claims of divine leading and guidance. These claims are shared as though the experience of such daily guidance is a matter of course for speaker and hearer alike."

Without neglecting the reality of Holy Spirit guidance, Bonhoeffer and DeVine challenge us to move beyond the murky elusiveness of seeking individualized revelation. God does not play hide-and-seek with His will.
Second, living through the day of a compromised church, Bonhoeffer spoke often on the nature and mission of the true church. Rather than giving up on a church which disappointed him, Bonhoeffer saw that true communion with Christ does not exist apart from our relationships with one another in the body. DeVine says that some modern church practice keeps us from this type of true interaction with one another.

Third, Bonhoeffer emphasized the relationship between the witness and relevance of the church. He said, "The intention should not be to justify Christianity in this present age, but to justify the present age before the Christian message." The church is to be in the world but not of it. Strong proclamation of the Word and a Christ-centered theology is the path of fidelity that avoids cultural accommodation. Again, DeVine draws application from these themes to evangelical practice.

Finally, Bonhoeffer wrote about freedom, suffering, and hope - three themes central to his own story. He exhorts us to "Seek God, not happiness". Unfortunately, many in evangelicalism turn this truth around, focusing on personal fulfillment even at the cost of disobedience to God. God's commands are a gracious gift of God that reveal His desires to us. Believing as he did in the imminent return of Jesus, Bonhoeffer expressed urgency in his call for repentance of sin.

In closing, DeVine says of Bonhoeffer, "We are confronted with a follower of Jesus prepared to died rather than abandon his Lord. Dietrich Bonhoeffer has much to teach us, and we evangelicals need not put our heads in the sand to sit at his feet for a spell." DeVine's exceptional book provides us with an enjoyable opportunity to listen to the voice of Bonhoeffer.

I recently used this book for a class my wife and I taught on Bonhoeffer for our church. I found it quite helpful because it is more than a biography of him but an interpretation and explantion of his life and ideas. Divine presents good insights in to DB's views on christian community, monasticism, grace, and is especailly good on making Bonhoeffer relavant for today. An easy and informative read. The authors also shares a fair amount of him own thinking and experience on issues as a Southern Baptist Pastor.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer stands historically as one of the more misunderstood characters of the past century. In Bonhoeffer Speaks Today, Mark Devine, Professor of Christian Theology at Midwestern Seminary in Kansas City, MO does an excellent job at helping to wade through the morass of misinformation that is in circulation regarding Bonhoeffer today.

I have often been fascinated by Bonhoeffer and his commitment to his particular understanding of faith in the the face of much opposition, both from his church, his family and his government. Devine does a fantastic job, in this book, of allowing us to glimpse the personal struggles of Bonhoeffer as he progressed through his life to the point where he would lay down his life for his commitment to God and country.

What struck me as particularly interesting about this volume was the message that it communicates to us today. We stand at a place, theologically, where we are battling with the tension that exists between biblical integrity and cultural relativity. We see this evidenced in many streams of the "Emerging Church Movement." As I was reading this book it occured to me that Bonhoeffer was an early precursor to this very same movement. Bonhoeffer's concern for community, transparency, relevance, etc. are all characteristics of much of our struggle in the church today.

This book is an excellent read! It is both enjoyable and very instructional. I would highly recommend it as a tool in understanding both historical precedent and practical application for our situation today. Devine is to be commended for familiarizing us with this wonderful character from our theological history. I think as you read this book, you will find Bonhoeffer standing beside you guiding you towards Christ and His word.

Devine follows Bonhoeffer's path to martyrdom through a loose historical timeline running from his birth in 1906 in Silesia to his death by hanging at Flossenburg concentration camp in 1945. Bonhoeffer's exceptional life as a Lutheran Pastor, author of classical theological texts (most notably "The Costs of Discipleship", which contain some very clear condemnations of the Protestants for unifying itself with the Nazi state, the founding member of The Confessing Church, an underground Christian movement which opposed the Third Reich, up until his much debated role in the July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and execution when it failed.

The section on Bonhoeffer's life is relatively short; countless biographies have already been written about him. Devine focuses on the Lutheran pastor's unwavering and almost inhuman devotion to Christ in a time when such a dedication meant certain death.

Unfortunately Devine takes a hardline Evangelical perspective which uses Bonhoeffer's work to make his own positions more legitimate. He has some interesting points but he strikes one as a little too dogmatic; Bonhoeffer's life is indeed an example of obedience to Christ's message at all costs, yes, but he clearly held the Protestant Church in very low regard and by his actions contradicted the principle of "obedience" out of conscience. Bonhoeffer's life is a rich mix of devoutness and rebellion. Evangelical Christianity alone is not appropriate for a discussion of his life or beliefs. An rewarding read anyway, though I'd recommend the work of the man himself.

What does it mean to follow Christ at all costs? For Dietrich Bonheoffer, it ultimately meant losing his life for being part of an attempt to assassinate Adolph Hitler. Six decades later, Bonhoeffer's writings are still influence individuals and whole churches. Professor and former pastor Mark Devine asks of these writings, what does Bonhoeffer might say to us today?

Dr. Devine begins Bonhoeffer Speaks Today with a thorough biography of the German theologian's life. The following four chapters cover various aspects of Bonhoeffer's theology. Chapter two address the will of God and how we know it. Dr. Devine uses the Bonhoeffer's work to criticize the contemporary elevation of personal experience to practically the same authority of Scripture.

In Chapter Three, Dr. Devine expounds on Bonhoeffer's doctrine of community. He concludes that we must return to Christ as the center of our communities, recognize its spiritual existence, and fulfill priesthood toward one another through confession and brotherhood. In the fourth chapter, issues of the Christian witness of relevance of the Gospel are addressed to the point of defending the Gospel against liberal compromise to the culture. Finally, Dr. Devine reflects on what Bonhoeffer can teach us about freedom, suffering, and the eternal hope.

Having no previous experience with Bonhoeffer's work, I found Bonhoeffer Speaks Today to be an enlightening read. Mark Devine sticks to issues that are relevant without watering anything down. Perhaps because Bonhoeffer's theology is so practical, the book is insightful without being academically demanding. At no point, however, was there any real disagreement with the German theologian. This leaves me wondering what might have been left out of the book. Regardless, I learned much from this book and I believe it will be useful to every person who picks it up.

In the author's introduction, DeVine qualifies the title by specifying that his work is an attempt to apply certain aspects of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's thought to the contemporary religious life of evangelical Christians. He acknowledges that this specificity is somewhat problematic in itself. This is due to the difficulties of defining evangelical in today's church environment. In fact, I would further qualify his intent by saying that it seems pointed most directly toward certain "popular" elements of contemporary American evangelical Christian life. In the end, DeVine accomplishes much of what he sets out to do. Most importantly, he does so in a way that is accessible not only to well read clergy but the serious lay audience as well.
The first chapter consists of a brief overview of the life and work of Bonhoeffer as a way of giving historical context to the application in the following chapters. This reader found the chronology a bit confusing at times. It left me wanting a fuller treatment of his life, particularly the last decade when Bonhoeffer found himself increasingly entangled in German church struggles and state intrigue. Perhaps this was due to the limitations of space in such a work as this. At any rate, this is not a major impediment to grasping the critique that Bonhoeffer's work brings to popular American evangelicalism.

A key to understanding DeVine's work is the way he uses Bonhoeffer's views of the will of God and reality as a critique of contemporary evangicalism in its popular American expression. Bonhoeffer's passionate attention to the will of God expressed itself in a particular view of reality. For him reality was revealed in all of God's historical activity and especially in His self revelation in Christ. The follower of Christ knows the will of God as it is revealed. Furthermore, the moral direction of the disciple's life ought to be centered on knowing the will of God rather than striving to be good or do good. This is so, because striving for goodness itself can become an act of self-justification. From this understanding of the will of God and reality, DeVine rightly points out that much of the popular evangelical obsession with the immediacy of spiritual experience now borders on just such a self-centered attitude.

DeVine goes on to make other important application of Bonhoeffer's thought to the contemporary evangelical scene. For instance, he demonstrates how Bonheffer' sense of Christian community speaks powerfully to the popular evangelical conception of church as "consumer" product. In true Christian community the church never becomes something that one shops for as with buying a new home or automobile. In reality, rather than being a product itself the church is that special place that produces in the disciple the qualities of Christlike living. Another example is the manner in which DeVine brings Bonhoeffer's idea of "worldly" Christianity to bear on the contemporary evangelical church's identification with partisan political expression. Too close an identification can become detrimental to establishing an independent and credible prophetic voice in the public square. In today's political arena we often see certain faith traditions within the larger evangelical community too closely wedded to particular political parties or ideas. This happens both on the left and the right. A final example is DeVine's use of Bonhoeffer's conception of freedom and happiness as a critique of ideas now prevailing in much of American evangelical church life. For Bonhoeffer the life of the true disciple is marked by the suffering of the cross and obedience to the will of God. Fulfillment finds its end in self-denial rather than concern for personal happiness. Freedom is discovered in becoming a servant rather then self expression. This runs counter to much of the contemporary evangelical concern for individual expression and experiential fulfillment.

One potential problem in DeVine's analysis is its heavy dependence on Bonhoeffer's sympathetic biographer, Eberhard Bethge. This may have unintentionally narrowed the scope of his application. A more broad reading of the Bonhoeffer literature might allow for further application of his thought to an even broader range of evangelical expression; whether it be right of center or left of center, popular or traditional, Calvinist or Arminian, free or ordered. Having said this, it must be acknowledged that DeVine has done the popular American evangelical church a large favor by pointing out several flaws in its present state.