Sources and Texts

By David A. R. Clark ABSTRACT This article examines Geffrey B. Kelly’s argument that, in 1941, the Reichsschrifttumskammer (RSK) prohibited Bonhoeffer from publishing because the agency objected to the ostensibly pro-Jewish and anti-Nazi content of Prayerbook of the Bible: An Introduction to the Psalms. The primary sources show that Kelly’s claims are unsupported by the historical record, as [...]

DBWE Vol. 15: Theological Education Underground: 1937-1940, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001. Hardcover, 725 pages Introduction Volume 15 of Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works is well worth the read. Its varied documents hail from 1937-1940. During this period, Bonhoeffer oversaw the “underground” theological education of some 67 seminarians connected with the Confessing Church. Amidst these tumultuous years, when Confessing seminaries [...]

“Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of our church. Our struggle today is for costly grace.” And with that sharp warning to his own church, which was engaged in bitter conflict with the official nazified state church, Dietrich Bonhoeffer began his book Discipleship (formerly entitled The Cost of Discipleship). Originally published in 1937, it soon became a classic [...]

The period 1928 to 1931, which followed the completion of his dissertation, was formative for Bonhoeffer’s personal and pastoral, and theological direction. Almost all of these nine hundred pages of writings appear in English here for the first time. They document the intense four-year period that included preparation of his postdoctoral thesis; a vicarage in [...]