Letters and Papers from Prison

One of the best of the many books I read this summer was Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers from Prison, compiled and edited by Eberhard Bethge. It contains correspondence between Bonhoeffer and his family and friends and a few notes, sermons and poems.

I enjoyed the honesty and occasional humor, the close relationships of the Bonhoeffer family and his remarkable friendship with Bethge. The historical perspective, that of an aristocratic German family caught in the Nazi regime, is fascinating (though little to nothing of their work with the Resistance is mentioned, for obvious reasons). And the certainty that God was indeed sovereign and was working His purposes through the evil, the hardships and separation and pain, the hope constantly deferred, was challenging and encouraging. Here are a few quotes:

September 25, 1943
"On reading this letter through, I think it sounds a bit disgruntled. That is not what I intend, and it wouldn’t represent my state of mind. Much as I long to be out of here, I don’t believe a single day has been wasted. What will come out of my time here it’s still too early to say; but something will come of it. "

December 24, 1943
"I’ve learnt here especially that the facts can always be mastered, and that difficulties are magnified out of all proportion simply by fear and anxiety . From the moment we wake until we fall asleep we must comment other people wholly and unreservedly to God and leave them in His hands, and transform our anxiety for them into prayer on their behalf… "

May 9, 1944
"I believe that nothing that happens to me is meaningless, and that it is good for us all that it should be so, even if it runs counter to our own wishes. As I see it, I’m here for some purpose, and I only hope I may fulfill it. In the light of the great purpose all our privations and disappointments are trivial."

August 21, 1944
"In these turbulent times we repeatedly lose sight of what really makes life worth living. We think that, because this or that person is living, it makes sense for us to live too. But the truth is that if this earth was good enough for the man Jesus Christ, if such as man as Jesus lived, then, and only then, has life a meaning for us. If Jesus had not lived, then our life would be meaningless, in spite of all the other people whom we know and honour and love. "

Note: if you decide to read it, be sure to get the Greatly Expanded Edition. As I understand it, the first edition contained mostly theological thoughts and the G. E. Edition has more family and personal correspondence.