{Day 278}

It’s been almost a decade since I last wrote a book report in high school.  Writing a book review now somehow seems just as daunting.  This time though it’s for much different reasons that I hesitate to lay down words about a piece of literature.  I’m not afraid of the writing itself.  Neither of the grade.  Mainly I feel the inadequacy of expressing my musings about this book.  Recently I finished reading Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas.  To say that it is an excellent read would be far from adequate.  It is well written and several times I had to reach for a dictionary.  While that is all very well and good the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is what left me amazed.  My mind was stimulated while reading this book like few things have done for me.  Yet where do I start?  True he was intellectually brilliant but that was balanced by his generous, caring, and humorous personality.  He was well read and purposeful with his time.  It is astonishing how much he did at such a young age.  I’m not quite sure if he ever slept.  Getting his doctorate in theology at the age of twenty one was only one of the many things he was doing at that time.  Did I mention that he also had the honor of graduating summa cum laude?  He lived a life of purpose and conviction.  I was repeatedly intrigued and challenged by the way he chose to live his life.  He wrote profusely and I now want to go read everything he ever wrote.  Even in his imprisonment he had the same grace and character that characterized his life.  He didn’t shrink back from what he felt to be right and he loved God above all else.  I encourage you to read this book.  It will be time well spent.  Not only is his life worth reading about but the history lesson alone that the book lays out is highly enlightening.  It helped me understand what was happening in Germany prior to World War II.  This post can never adequately do the book justice.  It doesn’t even come close…  I’ll leave you with this quote from Bonhoeffer himself:

“Who stands fast?  Only the man whose final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom, or his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all this when he is called to obedient and responsible action in faith and in exclusive allegiance to God–the responsible man, who tries to make his whole life an answer to the question and call of God.”  ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer