The pastor behind the myth

Few theologians have had as profound and lasting an impact on contemporary Christian thought as the German theologian, pastor, and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer. His legacy has been widely interpreted across Christian denominational lines and has recently taken a prominent place in political dialogue in the United States. Matthew Kirkpatrick offers a critical engagement with Bonhoeffer’s theology that stands apart for its clear and necessary message for today. He asks: What does Bonhoeffer mean for the church? In an age of ecclesial crisis and theological fragmentation among Christians, Kirkpatrick provides a timely reflection on how Bonhoeffer’s insights can revitalize and reshape the church’s vision and mission.

This systematic treatise provides readers with a full account of Bonhoeffer in his many forms—as pastor, student, theologian, and frustrated and yet hopeful Christian. What sets this book apart from other expositions of Bonhoeffer is its scope: Kirkpatrick draws on the entire span of Bonhoeffer’s works, and he lays out Bonhoeffer for the Church in thematic sequences that map the breadth of the theologian’s life and thought. As Kirkpatrick weaves together Bonhoeffer’s biography, theology, and public image, a pattern emerges: Bonhoeffer consistently urged those around him to be rooted in faith and to imitate (nachfolgen) Christ’s work in the world.

Particularly enlightening is Kirkpatrick’s exploration of Bonhoeffer’s Christology through the themes of love, action, sin, and atonement. Pastoral and communal care and representative action (Stellvertretung) come together in the way of life modeled by Jesus, demonstrating both the “being-for-the-other” and the “being-with-the-other” that ought to shape relationships between Christians. In understanding Bonhoeffer’s deep desires for and personal frustrations with the institution of the church, readers discover why the imitation of Christ became so important to Bonhoeffer in both his personal faith and his public action and leadership. Kirkpatrick grasps this pastoral impulse and hands it to his readers deftly. Bonhoeffer, who lately has become more than mythic, is in this book a complex human being—and first and foremost a pastor who cared deeply about the purpose and inner workings of the Christian community.