The Bonhoeffer Phenomenon: Portraits of a Protestant Saint

Stephen Haynes offers a provocative assessment of the Bonhoeffer mystique, which interprets Bonhoeffer's legacy through the medium of sainthood. Before casting an eye on the great pastor-theologian through a hagiographic lens, Haynes examines various receptions and appropriations of Bonhoeffer from different theological, ecclesial, and political contexts. Bonhoeffer is viewed from such divergent perspectives as radical theology and politics (exemplified in "death of God" theology), liberal theology and social ethics, conservative popular Christianity and evangelicalism, and lastly, the universal portrait of Bonhoeffer, which highlights his ecumenical significance. The Bonhoeffer Phenomenon provides an invaluable introduction to Bonhoeffer studies, while also offering its own unique analysis of Bonhoeffer's life and thought.

In the last 20 years, various groups have petitioned Yad Vashem, the Holocaust remembrance authority in Jerusalem, to award Dietrich Bonhoeffer the designation of "Righteous Gentile," but so far all such requests have been denied. Many of these petitioners view Bonhoeffer as a model of the Christian church's resistance to the Nazi effort to rid Europe of Jewish people, and as a theologian for a post-Holocaust era. But Haynes, associate professor of religion at Rhodes College, argues effectively that the truth is more complicated than the simple and appealing image that scholars and the media have presented. Despite Bonhoeffer's deeds, which Haynes finds exemplary, his theology, when read as a whole, is troubling. At best, Haynes claims, it reveals a deep ambivalence about Jews, and at worst, the traditional Christian belief that the Jews, as "killers" of God, must suffer for that deed until they are, en masse, converted. Haynes concludes that a careful analysis of Bonhoeffer's praxis and theology does have significance for post-Holocaust Christians, but too many contemporary portraits of him are the result of "superficial reading, hopeful interpretation, and overactive speculation." Haynes's book, largely a review of Bonhoeffer scholarship, will find an audience primarily among academics and clergy. (Apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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