I originally created this page on a separate blog for use in conjunction with a Sunday School class that I facilitated. I thought it might be helpful to others who might want to explore Bonhoeffer. This is my own page and not associated with any institution where I lead the discussion.
Book | Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison: A Biography by Martin Marty |
The Assignments are (please note that assignments may change, so check back before each class):
Date | Assignment | Notes |
Week 1 | Chs. 1 & 2 | After ten years was written before Bonhoeffer went to prison but sets up his situation for the prison time, which is why Bethge included it as the opening of the LPP. Who Am I is one of his famous poems from LPP. |
Week 2 Class | Chs. 3 &4 • Letter of July 16th 1944 (beginning on p. 161 of book and 163 of pdf (open here) (Bible directs man “to the powerlessness and suffering of God; only a suffering God can help; * * * A God who conquers power and space in the world by his weakness.”) | |
Week 3 Class | Chs. 5 & 6 of Martin Marty’s “Biography” | JAT Note: I hope we can spend the first part of the class dealing with the letters linked to the left. I would appreciate some members of the class discussing any portion of the linked excerpts that they found interesting/noteworthy. The balance of the class will be spent on Chapters 5&6 |
Week 4 Class | Chs. 6, 7 & 8 | JAT Note: from our starting point (letter of 7/16/44), the remainder of the text of the LPP is only 25 pages long; I identify 4 for specific reading and discussion, but some may want to read all those 25 pages. |
Bonhoeffer | ||
Bethge | Correspondent with Bonhoeffer who later compiled the versions of LPP. | |
Martin Marty | The author of the Book we are reading | |
Prisoner of God: Letters and Papers from Prison (1959 MacMillan Edition) | This is an early LPP edition. Since then it has become known and republished in the U.S. as Letters and Papers from Prison This online version contains most of the theological writings we will consider in the context of Marty’s LPP Biography. There will be assignments that can be found in this book. When an assignment is made, links directly to the page that starts the assignment will be provided. | |
Road to Freedom | Has some of the letters and the poem “Who Am I.” | |
Charles Marsh - Who is Christ for Us Today? Bonhoeffer's Final Questions | Marsh is Bonhoeffer biographer and a professor at UVA. | |
Eric Metaxes CBN Interview | Metaxes is a Bonhoeffer biographer This is a good interview with a prominent Bonhoeffer biographer. The link opens to Metaxes’ discussion of Bonhoeffer’s time at Union Theological Seminary when he encountered the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. | |
Professor Tom Greggs Intro on Bonhoeffer | Very good overview of the life and work of Bonhoeffer |
