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Bonhoeffer for the Church: An Introduction
Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one of the most widely read Christian writers of the twentieth century. Although his work has been influential among academics, his widest readership has always been the church. Each Sunday, Bonhoeffer's writings are referenced in sermons and study groups around the world. And yet no systematic introduction to Bonhoeffer exists for this audience. In Bonhoeffer for the Church , Matthew Kirkpatrick corrects this omission. Structured around topics such as preaching, worship, sacraments, prayer, pastoral care, confession, evangelism, and apologetics, Bonhoeffer for the Church offers an accessible but comprehensive introduction to Bonhoeffer's life and thought for those in ministry or interested in understanding their life in community better. In making Bonhoeffer accessible for the church, Kirkpatrick also reveals Bonhoeffer's astonishing message to the church. Despite his well-known conflicts with the churches and church leaders of his time, the church remained for Bonhoeffer the foundation for God's redeeming activity to the world and in individual lives. Drawing on the full range of his writings, including his less well-known sermons, diaries, and letters, Bonhoeffer for the Church presents this astonishing vision and shows how Bonhoeffer can revitalize and inspire the life and ministry of the church and our individual relationships. For those who struggle in their ministry, doubt the relevance of the church, or who simply need to be reenergized in their relationships with other Christians, Bonhoeffer for the Church offers a crucially important message.
397 pages, Hardcover
Published April 9, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 22, 2024
One of the best resources I’ve read in Bonhoeffer. It’s not groundbreaking, but just a helpful guide book to just about everything in Bonhoeffer’s thought. Maybe the first book I’d recommend to any layperson and pastor to really know Bonhoeffer well. It’s not perfect, I think he’s wrong about divine freedom and the scope of salvation in Bonhoeffer, but that’s not enough of an error to merit star deductions. For the church, it’s nearly perfect.
November 14, 2024
Summary: A study of what Bonhoeffer wrote about the church’s identity, purpose, practices, and life together.
When the name Dietrich Bonhoeffer comes up, one might ask, “which Dietrich Bonhoeffer?” At present, their are different “camps” trying to claim Bonhoeffer for their own. While his widest readership has always been among those who identify with one or another church, his works do not offer a systematic theology of the church. What Matthew D. Kirkpatrick does, with the aid of the now-completed set of Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, published by Fortress Press, is organize this material into an extended statement of Bonhoeffer’s message for the church. While reflecting extensive scholarship, Kirkpatrick writes for the church, making this a text for pastors, leaders, and lay people to explore together.
After a brief biographical sketch emphasizing Bonhoeffer’s pastoral work, Kirkpatrick begins by discussing foundations of the church’s identity. He begins with creation and fall, emphasizing the tragedy of wanting to be like God when we already were. Instead, the first couple turned in on themselves, and we re-enact this in our lives in a shared predicament. But God breaks in through Christ’s work on the cross, God’s living Word. God breaks in, often mediated through others, enabling us to have faith in Christ. Such faith calls us into community with love as faith’s expression. Christ makes our community possible through that love and we meet each other through Christ. Thus our own “visions” of and attempts to build community die. Instead we receive community as a gift through Christ.
Crucial to our community is Bonhoeffer’s idea of vicarious representation. Christ served and redeemed as a vicarious representative, and while the church cannot do what Christ did in redemption, it vicariously represents Christ in service to one another and the world. For Bonhoeffer, this is the basis of pastoral care. This further works itself out in intercessory prayer and the confession of and forgiveness of sin. Intercession is not just praying for others, but praying as the other in and through Christ and is a profound expression of community. In confession of sin, we take on the sins of others, recognizing our own sin, and pronouncing Christ’s forgiveness of the other. A concluding chapter in this section discusses ecumenism, the true and empirical church, and why we go to church as a counter to our individualism. Christ meets us in others.
Part Two turns from our identity to our inner life. Firstly, Bonhoeffer addresses authority, leadership and the priesthood of all believers. The focus is on the priority of the God’s word over human words and structures as the source of authority. This is followed by a chapter on preaching, theology, and the word of God. Preaching is central to the inner life of the church. For Bonhoeffer, this means submission to the word of God, by both those who preach and the congregation. The church comes together to be addressed not by a person but by the living God. Kirkpatrick follows this with a chapter on the reading of scripture, music, and sacraments.
For Bonhoeffer, evangelism is not winning people to Christ but rather a means by which God, mediated through Christ, calls people to faith. Evangelism meant listening before speaking, both to God and the person, seeking to discern God’s word in that situation. For this reason, he opposed programmatic approaches. for him, faith in Christ and his word was sufficient. Likewise, in his teaching on time alone, the focus is on listening to God, both in prayer and in scripture. Each nurtures the other.
Part Three engages the church in the world. Kirkpatrick emphasizes that Bonhoeffer did not focus on rules or laws. Rather, the focus was on God to discern what one must do to follow Christ. This may explain as well as anything Bonhoeffer’s decision to plot to kill Hitler. Bonhoeffer on the state followed Luther’s two kingdoms. However, in the context of Nazism, he also believed the church must address the state with the Word of God. Thus he refused to incorporate the Aryan paragraph as a violation of the Word of God. The final chapter covers his letters and papers from prison. This includes Bonhoeffer’s idea of a “religionless Christianity.”
Few agree with Bonhoeffer at all points. But the delight of this book is in how it underscores the centrality of Christ. Salvation comes through him. Community is possible only in him. Our preaching is for hearing Christ’s word together. Our witness is predicated on Christ’s work of calling others to himself. Ethics is obedience to Christ. Amid the contentions around Bonhoeffer, Kirkpatrick has given us a book at once profound and useful for our life together.
____________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
When the name Dietrich Bonhoeffer comes up, one might ask, “which Dietrich Bonhoeffer?” At present, their are different “camps” trying to claim Bonhoeffer for their own. While his widest readership has always been among those who identify with one or another church, his works do not offer a systematic theology of the church. What Matthew D. Kirkpatrick does, with the aid of the now-completed set of Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, published by Fortress Press, is organize this material into an extended statement of Bonhoeffer’s message for the church. While reflecting extensive scholarship, Kirkpatrick writes for the church, making this a text for pastors, leaders, and lay people to explore together.
After a brief biographical sketch emphasizing Bonhoeffer’s pastoral work, Kirkpatrick begins by discussing foundations of the church’s identity. He begins with creation and fall, emphasizing the tragedy of wanting to be like God when we already were. Instead, the first couple turned in on themselves, and we re-enact this in our lives in a shared predicament. But God breaks in through Christ’s work on the cross, God’s living Word. God breaks in, often mediated through others, enabling us to have faith in Christ. Such faith calls us into community with love as faith’s expression. Christ makes our community possible through that love and we meet each other through Christ. Thus our own “visions” of and attempts to build community die. Instead we receive community as a gift through Christ.
Crucial to our community is Bonhoeffer’s idea of vicarious representation. Christ served and redeemed as a vicarious representative, and while the church cannot do what Christ did in redemption, it vicariously represents Christ in service to one another and the world. For Bonhoeffer, this is the basis of pastoral care. This further works itself out in intercessory prayer and the confession of and forgiveness of sin. Intercession is not just praying for others, but praying as the other in and through Christ and is a profound expression of community. In confession of sin, we take on the sins of others, recognizing our own sin, and pronouncing Christ’s forgiveness of the other. A concluding chapter in this section discusses ecumenism, the true and empirical church, and why we go to church as a counter to our individualism. Christ meets us in others.
Part Two turns from our identity to our inner life. Firstly, Bonhoeffer addresses authority, leadership and the priesthood of all believers. The focus is on the priority of the God’s word over human words and structures as the source of authority. This is followed by a chapter on preaching, theology, and the word of God. Preaching is central to the inner life of the church. For Bonhoeffer, this means submission to the word of God, by both those who preach and the congregation. The church comes together to be addressed not by a person but by the living God. Kirkpatrick follows this with a chapter on the reading of scripture, music, and sacraments.
For Bonhoeffer, evangelism is not winning people to Christ but rather a means by which God, mediated through Christ, calls people to faith. Evangelism meant listening before speaking, both to God and the person, seeking to discern God’s word in that situation. For this reason, he opposed programmatic approaches. for him, faith in Christ and his word was sufficient. Likewise, in his teaching on time alone, the focus is on listening to God, both in prayer and in scripture. Each nurtures the other.
Part Three engages the church in the world. Kirkpatrick emphasizes that Bonhoeffer did not focus on rules or laws. Rather, the focus was on God to discern what one must do to follow Christ. This may explain as well as anything Bonhoeffer’s decision to plot to kill Hitler. Bonhoeffer on the state followed Luther’s two kingdoms. However, in the context of Nazism, he also believed the church must address the state with the Word of God. Thus he refused to incorporate the Aryan paragraph as a violation of the Word of God. The final chapter covers his letters and papers from prison. This includes Bonhoeffer’s idea of a “religionless Christianity.”
Few agree with Bonhoeffer at all points. But the delight of this book is in how it underscores the centrality of Christ. Salvation comes through him. Community is possible only in him. Our preaching is for hearing Christ’s word together. Our witness is predicated on Christ’s work of calling others to himself. Ethics is obedience to Christ. Amid the contentions around Bonhoeffer, Kirkpatrick has given us a book at once profound and useful for our life together.
____________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
December 12, 2025
In this excellent review of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's writings, author Matthew Kirkpatrick distills key thoughts from the 17-volume Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works in English into themes that Bonhoeffer wrote to and for the church. From his little read doctoral thesis The Sanctorum Communio, to better known works such as the Cost of Discipleship and Life Together, Kirkpatrick puts together a compelling vision of what Bonhoeffer intended for the church and lived out in his own life.
The idea of "vicarious representative action" weaves through many things and the reader recognizes that Christ stood in our place in a way that the church can for others. He highlights the dangers of individualism while defining redemption as "making us more human as God intended". The book focuses on not only theoretical ideas but also practical application for church inner life and its orientation to the world. The chapter on intercessory prayer has already changed the way that I pray for others, and it's magnificent!
Kirkpatrick's lucid prose brings to light some things that had been lost to me in reading Bonhoeffer's own words. I took notes on this book for a class, and (more than once) as I tried to summarize a particular paragraph into a bullet point, I would find the words I had written were almost exactly in the very next paragraph where Kirkpatrick was stating his thesis in another way!
I recommend this book to all Christians, not just students of Bonhoeffer, but especially to church leaders who need refreshing on what God intends for His church from a man who lived out his mission to the fullest.
The idea of "vicarious representative action" weaves through many things and the reader recognizes that Christ stood in our place in a way that the church can for others. He highlights the dangers of individualism while defining redemption as "making us more human as God intended". The book focuses on not only theoretical ideas but also practical application for church inner life and its orientation to the world. The chapter on intercessory prayer has already changed the way that I pray for others, and it's magnificent!
Kirkpatrick's lucid prose brings to light some things that had been lost to me in reading Bonhoeffer's own words. I took notes on this book for a class, and (more than once) as I tried to summarize a particular paragraph into a bullet point, I would find the words I had written were almost exactly in the very next paragraph where Kirkpatrick was stating his thesis in another way!
I recommend this book to all Christians, not just students of Bonhoeffer, but especially to church leaders who need refreshing on what God intends for His church from a man who lived out his mission to the fullest.
Read
August 19, 2025Strong contender for my favorite book this year, and easily one of my favorite theology books that I’ve read in a long time. One endorsement says “Read Bonhoeffer For The Church with your church community!” and I couldn’t agree with that recommendation more. This is a book that is about the church and truly aimed at the church, meaning it’s not just for scholars or pastors. Lots of reasons that I think you should read this book, but here’s four prevelant ones:
1. The book includes broad theological foundations, but also specifics on topics like prayer, preaching, confession, service, music, and much more.
2. It is incredibly profitable to explore a topic through the lens of a particular person; in this case, Bonhoeffer. It feels like having a conversation with a historical figure, and I think it is more challenging and rewarding when a subject is examined alongside someone who dedicated so much of his life to said subject.
3. There is much that is relevant for how Christians should engage with “Christian nationalism” in Bonhoeffer’s thought. It is a timely book for American culture.
4. Bonhoeffer was Lutheran, and so he provides a beautiful vision of the church that is sometimes seen as lacking in Protestants. I found myself being thankful for my Reformed upbringing in reading this book.
There is much more I could say, but in short: Read this book! It will be convicting, encouraging, and give you a greater love for your local church.
1. The book includes broad theological foundations, but also specifics on topics like prayer, preaching, confession, service, music, and much more.
2. It is incredibly profitable to explore a topic through the lens of a particular person; in this case, Bonhoeffer. It feels like having a conversation with a historical figure, and I think it is more challenging and rewarding when a subject is examined alongside someone who dedicated so much of his life to said subject.
3. There is much that is relevant for how Christians should engage with “Christian nationalism” in Bonhoeffer’s thought. It is a timely book for American culture.
4. Bonhoeffer was Lutheran, and so he provides a beautiful vision of the church that is sometimes seen as lacking in Protestants. I found myself being thankful for my Reformed upbringing in reading this book.
There is much more I could say, but in short: Read this book! It will be convicting, encouraging, and give you a greater love for your local church.
November 30, 2024
This book delivers what it promises: an accessible yet deeply researched introduction to Dietrich Bonhoeffer's life and thought for pastors and church leaders. Kirkpatrick skillfully bridges the gap between Bonhoeffer's academic legacy and his practical relevance for the church, offering insights into preaching, worship, prayer, and more. The writing is clear and engaging, making it a valuable resource for anyone seeking to enrich their ministry or community life. Grounded in rigorous research yet approachable for a wide audience, this book is an inspiring tool for revitalizing faith and ministry in the modern church.
In particular, the biographical sketch, the first chapter, will be useful to anyone looking for a succinct outline of Bonhoeffer's life.
In particular, the biographical sketch, the first chapter, will be useful to anyone looking for a succinct outline of Bonhoeffer's life.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews