Description

How much did Dietrich Bonhoeffer know of the Holocaust, and what did he do to help the Jews? Should Bonhoeffer be considered one of the "Righteous among the Nations"? In this welcome sequel to his acclaimed The Bonhoeffer Phenomenon, Stephen Haynes takes up these vexing and controversial questions. While Bonhoeffer spoke out against mistreatment of the Jews as early as 1933 in a radio broadcast, his own reflection on Jewish identity in Christian theology and on the plight of the Jews developed considerably over the next dozen years. Always forthright yet fair, Haynes analyzes the historical record and Bonhoeffer's maturing theology and shows how Bonhoeffer's self-critical theology relates to the later advent of post-Holocaust theologies, with their sharply posed challenges to traditional Christian supersessionism.