Anxious Souls Will Ask

The Christ Centered Spirituality of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

By: John Matthews

Narrated by: Simon Vance

John Matthews has been captivated by Dietrich Bonhoeffer for thirty years, long before the film brought this modern Christian martyr back into the public eye. This book will take you into Bonhoeffer’s struggle of terror and faith in his Letters and Papers from Prison. Guided by Matthews’s keen mind and pastoral courage, you will be led past the crumbling pillars of worn religiosity to the hidden disciplines through which Christians live in difficult times. —David L. Tiede, Luther Theological SEMInary

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Attempt at pastoral take on Bonhoeffer

Bonhoeffer is a hero to many, but few people actually read much more than Life Together or Cost of Discipleship. Bonhoeffer is not always easy to read. He was an academic and some of his writing (and a lot of the writing about him) was/is intended for the academic world not the general Christian world.

Metaxas‘s recent biography, (I liked it more than some, but understand the criticisms) for all of its weaknesses is still bringing a lot of general attention to Bonhoeffer. And all of Bonhoeffer’s writings have recently been re-translated and complied in new editions. (I am waiting for the price of the Kindle versions to drop a bit before I get them all.)

John Matthews has entered the fray to write as a pastor, with a strong academic background in the Bonhoeffer studies, a short book about Bonhoeffer’s spirituality and theology. I listened to it because Audible.com had it on sale for less than $5. It was just over 2 hours of audio. Simon Vance was the narrator. Normally I try to review the audio quality and narration separately from the content. But in this case it really affected the content. What was supposed to be pastoral and easy to understand, ended up being pretentious and lofty. Vance is a good narrator, but a bad choice for this project. He has a British accent and is very exact in his diction and pronunciation. That did not make listening to a pastoral approach better. And I do not think it is the British accent, but something about the tone and reading method. I find John Stott and NT Wright incredibly pastoral in tone. In fact I prefer listening to both of them over reading them because their passion as pastors really carries through their speaking in much stronger ways than it does through their writing alone.

This book tried, but in the end I felt it had some of the weaknesses of Metaxas biography. It was trying to put Bonhoeffer in an Evangelical mold. (longer review on my blog at bookwi.se

Jesus would most likely approve...

The easy lives, and the easy choices that draw people to Jesus...salvation, hope, and righteous seem hollow, when you view the message of Jesus through the tragically heroic eyes of Bonfather. His hope was goodness as our debt for salvation. No simple priest, a German who helps to remove the demonization of an entire people and their church.

Remarkably clear writing. I will listen to this book many more times.

I just wish the book was longer because Bonhoeffer is such a relevant Christian for us today.