Strange Glory: A Life
of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Charles Marsh
After reading Eric Metaxas’ excellent biography on
Bonhoeffer, I wasn’t sure how I would like this new biography on Bonhoeffer by
Charles Marsh. Marsh in this bio,
Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer has mined through a vast amount of
new archival material that comes out clearly in his presentation of
Bonhoeffer. This biography by Marsh is
thorough, detailed, and insightful in both a personal and historical
manner. Marsh goes to great lengths to
draw us into the early life of Bonhoeffer, his primary influences, and his
theological and ethical message.
Marsh brings out in Bonhoeffer’s early life the brimming intellect
of Dietrich among his peers. There was a
kind of matter of fact nature about both the privilege of his upbringing and
excellence of his mind. “Only later in
life would the sin of pride become a project for spiritual correction; in his
school years, Bonhoeffer regarded his superior intellect as a plain fact (11).” His intellect and grasp for music led him to
try out for the freshman class at the Berlin Music Conservatory only to be told
by teacher that he lacked “expressive color” (16). Yet, what was more telling is Marsh’s comment
that, “Yet, he ultimately found his passion for music not as great as the one
stirred whenever his thoughts turned to God, or simply when he read in one of
his uncle von Hase’s leather-bound volumes of theology (16).” What was an oddity of sort is that most of
Dietrich’s brothers and his father were not in the least bit fascinated by the
study of theology and church life, however, his mother nurtured this side of
his passion. From a very early age,
Dietrich was moved by the cadences of the Scriptures, by a clear engagement with theology, and keen
focus on the nature of the church.
Marsh does an excellent job at seeing the awkward position
Bonhoeffer was in during his university days.
Marsh writes, “And so Dietrich Bonhoeffer became a rare bird in Berlin:
a liberal who nevertheless admired Barth and felt strong affinities for the
spirit of so-called dialectical theology; who radical approach to God’s
transcendence cast aside the natural explanations of everyone since Aquinas as
well as the recondite metaphysics of Germany’s brightest lights (54-55).” For Bonhoeffer, Barth’s writing was a breath
of fresh air in the dry sails of Germany thinking and theological
investigation. Barth, for Bonhoeffer was
lyrical and dynamic, speaking a theology that engages the experience of the
believer in the world. Marsh draws on
this view of Barth by saying that, “Barth wrote theology with the ferocity of a
soul on fire (52).” I believe it was
Barth who played a formative influence upon Bonhoeffer to help change his
theological work into a sort of political theology.
This biography also makes the landscape of Nazi Germany
during the war apparent to its readers in the form it took in the church. The passing of the Aryan Paragraph by the
Reichstag on April 7th was a huge move toward the assimilation of
the Protestant Churches into unity with Nazi rule. Marsh writes, “Muller’s election set in
motion the nazification of the German Evangelical Church, igniting the long but
futile Kirchenkampf , and the
movement of dissident Christians to protect the regional churches against the imposition
of Nazi will (164-165).” Bonhoeffer
responded by writing the “The Church and the Jewish Question,” a statement
rejecting the Aryan paragraph and stating that anyone wishing to remove Jewish
Christians from the church might as well remove Christ from the church
(166).
I would be remiss if I didn’t address the relationship that
Bonhoeffer had with Eberhard Bethge, one of his first biographer’s. Writing about Bonhoeffer’s friendship with Bethge,
Marsh writes, “Bonhoeffer had never felt such a bond with a female, with the
exception of his twin, Sabine. But her
marriage he relegated her to the ranks of those near him whom he nevertheless
held at a certain distance. This
unguarded closeness was something different, and felt exhilarating. Some seminarians, indeed, wondered whether
Bonhoeffer had fallen in love with the boyish country pastor (236).” Marsh seems to not so slyly evidence that
Bonhoeffer could have had a homosexual relationship with Bethge. Yet, I wonder if this misses the mark due to
the fact that one of Bonhoeffer’s reasons for opening the seminary at
Finkenwalde was to grow in unity with brothers of the faith. I do think it odd at times at the way
Bonhoeffer refers to Bethge, but I think reading too much into it is a problem.
Overall, this biography on Bonhoeffer by Charles Marsh was
excellent.
Thanks to Blogging for Books for the copy of this book in
exchange for an honest review.
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