Bonhoeffer: The Man and his Work by René Marlé, S. J.

Abstract

BOOK REVIEW'S 179 Bonhoeffer: The Man and his Work. By RENE MARLE:, S.J. Glen Rock, N. J.: Newman Press, 1968. Pp. 141. $4.50. When Bonhoeffer's name is mentioned many of us make an immediate association: religionless Christianity. This small book is valuable because it puts that association into the perspective of Bonhoeffer's whole life and whole teaching. The life reveals a man of deep faith in Christ and in the Church, a man of constant prayer. The teaching reveals the essential complexity of his thought. No one after reading this book would ever dare to sum up his thought by the phrase " religionless Christianity " nor identify him with the secularity movement today. Perhaps MarJe's best contribution to fuller understanding of Bonhoeffer 's theology is his juxtaposition of the religionless Christianity theme from the Letters and Papers with other themes from the same book and from the Ethics, which Bonhoeffer was also writing in prison. For example, Bonhoeffer never gave up on the necessity of intense, personal prayer while dialoguing with religionless men. Also, while insisting that the Christian must have true affection for this world and its peoples before one could have true appreciation for Christ's work, since Incarnation (or God t>mbracing the world) comes before Redemption, the Old Testament before the New, the penultimate before the ultimate, still what is important in the end is Redemption, justification, salvation; what is important in the end is religion. Bonhoeffer does not make the connection between religionless Christianity and Incarnation, Old Testament, penultimate things explicit, but Marie shows that it is no distortion of his writings to say that the connection is strongly implicit. I believe Marie is right. In all, this is a very useful book for these seeking a few handles into the study of this great Lutheran theologian who was conservative in his ecclesiology, yet open to ecumenical dialogue; who stood stubbornly with the Confessing Church, while sharply criticizing it; who wrote a highly subtle book on Christian ethics, yet lived a basically simple life; and who died a hero's death. Dominican House of Studies Washington, D. C. THOMAS R. HEATH, 0. P. Un Cardenal, Fil6sofo de la Historia, Fr. Zeferino Gonzcilez, 0. P. (18811894 ). By FRANCO DrAZ DE CERro, S. J. Rome: Lateran University, 1969. Pp. 197. Four articles published in 1870 under the title "La Filosofia de la Historia " (" The Philosophy of History ") are taken as basic writings for a study on Cardinal Gonzalez's notion on the subject. They first appeared ...