nobody but the baby: Metaxas on Bonhoeffer (and my blurb)

I have written an endorsement for Eric Metaxas's forthcoming biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It is coming out in April, and you can pre-order it here. It is vintage Metaxas: witty, passionate, and About Something. Bonhoeffer, like Wilberforce before him, is an ideal subject for Eric's trenchant pen. There are a few things in the book with which I take issue, and if I write a full-fledged review after the book comes out, I'll address them. None of my quibbles, however, would take away from the fact that this is a fantastic book on a crucially iconic life that should become standard fare for people concerned about justice, power, the cross, and the Kingdom of God in the 21st century. Buy your copy today.

Here's my endorsement, just submitted. In the copy, this might be boiled down to "radical!" We'll see:

Eric Metaxas has given us a portrait of Dietrich Bonhoeffer whose prophetic life in troubled times will chasten, clarify, and challenge our own. Readers will be caught up in this vivid, lucid story that draws deeply from the intellectual wells and poetic energy that inspired Bonhoeffer himself. In these pages we come to know a Bonhoeffer who chose radical Christian discipleship in the context of spiritual community over all other options, whether the safety of institutional orthodoxy, the self-satisfaction of ideological narcissism, or the political evasion of otherworldly pietism. This is also a deeply humanizing book, full of vignettes that reveal Bonhoeffer as a son, as a lover, a pastor, a friend, all in the context of the deadly work for which he is most remembered: resistance to the growing menace of Nazism.

Some readers may not agree with all of Metaxas's arguments about Bonhoeffer, but that is not the point of this book. The point is to unsettle, to provoke, and to inspire. Crammed with insight, outrage, and urgency, this book is an attempt to position Bonhoeffer where he belongs, in the ranks of the great Christian humanists who have struggled against the prevailing winds of culture to faithfully and bravely interpret Christianity for their historical moment.

Caleb J. D. Maskell
Doctoral Student, Department of Religion, Princeton University
Associate Director, Jonathan Edwards Center, Yale University (2004-2007)