By David Wilkinson
For Eric Metaxas, a New York Times best-selling author, one story led to another.
A few years ago a friend gave Metaxas a book on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the brilliant and courageous German theologian, pastor and writer who was executed by the Nazis in 1945 for his role in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
Metaxas knew virtually nothing about Bonhoeffer, but he did know a good story when he heard it. He had written several children’s books and then Amazing Grace, the best-selling biography of British abolitionist William Wilberforce and his 20-year fight to abolish the British slave trade in the early 19th century. As his friend gave him a thumbnail sketch of Bonhoeffer, Metaxas’s curiosity and writer’s instincts snapped to attention.
Bonhoeffer’s story seemed to have all the elements of a good spy novel, said Metaxas, “but the really amazing thing was that this incredible story was true.” He read the book and soon went from curious to intrigued to captivated. Then he wrote his own book.
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Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, the first major biography of Bonhoeffer in 40 years, has quickly garnered widespread acclaim since it was released earlier this year.
A few days ago I had lunch with Metaxas. We were joined by some 300 others who had gathered in downtown Fort Worth to hear Metaxas talk about his book and Bonhoeffer. A dear friend who was one of the sponsors of the event had invited Melanie and me to be her guests, in part because I had introduced her to several of Bonhoeffer’s writings a few years ago when I was on the staff of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth. (She has a long memory and a generous heart.)
As Metaxas recounted Bonhoeffer’s story, I was struck by his zeal for his subject. Clearly, the process of researching Bonhoeffer’s life; of considering it in the context of the awful and world-changing events of Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, the Holocaust and the Second World War; and of assessing his legacy more than 60 years after Bonhoeffer was hanged at the Flossenbürg concentration camp (just 23 days before the Nazis’ surrender) had become much more than an intellectual pursuit for Metaxas.
Apparently, a group of high-school students in the room were equally astute. They passed a note to the moderator of a Q-&-A following Metaxas’ remarks, asking if researching and writing about Bonhoeffer had changed the author in any way.
Not at all, said Metaxas with tongue in cheek, prompting laughter from the audience. He paused, seeming to gather himself for a moment, before continuing. “This is a true story,” he marveled. “It’s an incredible, amazing story…. You can’t be present in a life like this and not be moved.”
But it was his next few sentences that really caught my attention.
Bonhoeffer’s story is “beautiful and inspiring,” Metaxas continued. “But the beauty of Bonhoeffer is that he challenges us to think more deeply and more rigorously about theology and faith — to ask, ‘What does God have to say?’”
German Protestant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer in 1939, prior to his arrest by Nazi authorities. (German State Archives photo)
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Integrating his father’s brilliant scientific mind and his mother’s devout Christian faith (and intellectual giftedness in her own right) with his keen intellect, theological acumen, love of the Scriptures, pastor’s heart and deeply personal faith, Bonhoeffer recognized there were no easy religious answers at a time when the world was coming face-to-face with demonic evil, Metaxas said.
Bonhoeffer wrestled with “what God has to say” at such a time, Metaxas said. He recognized that “Christianity is not about fear-based religion but about actively seeking to know and do God’s will.”
Bonhoeffer was true to his calling from God even when it led inexorably to his death, the author asserted: “To be chosen by God is a glorious and terrible thing. Like the prophet Jeremiah, Bonhoeffer understood this — and that, however terrible it is, it’s also a beautiful thing.”
For Christians today, who are confronted by complex moral issues and global crises, Bonhoeffer’s story is as relevant as ever.
“We need these stories,” Metaxas reminded the audience. “We need to be inspired.”
Later that evening I thumbed through a few of the Bonhoeffer books in my study. Among the dog-eared pages and underlined passages was this sentence from Letters from Prison:
We have for once learnt to see the great events of world history from below, from the perspective of the outcast, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed, the reviled — in short, from the perspective of those who suffer.
We need to be inspired by stories like that of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. But, as Metaxas discovered, Bonhoeffer won’t let us rest with a little inspiration. He — like the crucified Jesus he followed to a martyr’s death — also challenges us to stand with God on the side of the powerless and the oppressed. And then to trust God to walk alongside us wherever that commitment takes us.