The Battle for Bonhoeffer

by Stephen R. Haynes

Overview

The figure of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) has become a clay puppet in modern American politics. Secular, radical, liberal, and evangelical interpreters variously shape and mold the martyr’s legacy to suit their own pet agendas.

Stephen Haynes offers an incisive and clarifying perspective. A recognized Bonhoeffer expert, Haynes examines “populist” readings of Bonhoeffer, including the acclaimed biography by Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. In his analysis Haynes treats, among other things, the November 2016 election of Donald Trump and the “Bonhoeffer moment” announced by evangelicals in response to the US Supreme Court’s 2015 decision to legalize same-sex marriage.

The Battle for Bonhoeffer includes an open letter from Haynes pointedly addressing Christians who still support Trump. Bonhoeffer’s legacy matters. Haynes redeems the life and the man.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467451062
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	09/13/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	213
File size:	575 KB

About the Author

Stephen R. Haynes is professor of religious studies at Rhodes College, adjunct professor of recovery ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary, and theologian-in-residence at Idlewild Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee. A contributor to The Christian Century and HuffPost, he is the author of several books, including The Battle for Bonhoeffer: Debating Discipleship in the Age of Trump and The Last Segregated Hour: The Memphis Kneel-Ins and the Campaign for Southern Church Desegregation.

Table of Contents

Foreword Charles Marsh ix

Acknowledgments xvii

Part 1 Exploring Bonhoeffer's American Reception

1 The Man, the Myth, the Battle 1

2 Rorschach Test: American Bonhoeffers from Cox to Koehn 11

Critical Patriot 12

Righteous Gentile 14

Moral Hero 20

3 Gradual Embrace: The Evangelical Bonhoeffer before Metaxas 24

Early Reservations 24

Bonhoeffer's Triumph in the Evangelical Heart 26

A Multifaceted Bonhoeffer 29

Part 2 Bonhoeffer and Homegrown Hitlers

4 Bonhoeffer, Bush, and the "War on Terror" 41

Hawk or Dove? 41

Professional Scholars Weigh In 44

Bush Becomes Hitler… Sort Of 47

5 Bonhoeffer, Obama, and the "Culture of Death" 55

Appropriating the German Church Struggle 58

Revisiting the American Holocaust 60

Updating the Nazi Analogy 62

The Metaxas Factor 65

6 The Metaxas Phenomenon 68

A Bonhoeffer Biography for the Age of Obama 68

Game-Changer 69

A Closer Look 70

"Fifty Years" of Misappropriation 72

Scholarly Backlash 73

Evangelical Reservations 74

The Metaxas Agenda 77

Metaxas's Bonhoeffer in Context 80

Part 3 Triumph of the Populist Bonhoeffer

7 Kairos: "A Bonhoeffer Moment in America" 85

The Southern Baptists Have Their Bonhoeffer Moment 88

Backgrounds of the Bonhoeffer Moment 91

The Bonhoeffer Moment Arrives… Sort Of 96

A Different Sort of Bonhoeffer Moment 97

8 Surprise: Bonhoeffer Gets Trumped 100

The Trump Factor 101

Bonhoeffer and the 2016 Campaign 103

Metaxas Doubles Down 107

Pushback 109

9 Aftermath: A "Bonhoeffer Moment" for Liberals 113

The Left Has Its Bonhoeffer Moment 115

Bonhoeffer Scholars Seize Their Moment 117

Evangelicals Join the Revolt 119

Searching for Solid Ground 121

Outrage Becomes Terror 123

10 The Battle for Bonhoeffer, circa 2018 127

Postscript

Your Bonhoeffer Moment: An Open Letter to Christians Who Love Bonhoeffer and (Still) Support Tramp 136

Notes 149

Bibliography 173

Index 191

Editorial Reviews

Lori Brandt Hale
— Augsburg University
“Stephen Haynes has written a must-read Bonhoeffer book. Tracing Bonhoeffer’s American reception over time through scholarship, op-ed pieces, blogs, documentaries, artistic presentations, and more, Haynes uncovers—with striking clarity—the range of images of Bonhoeffer and his legacy, paying particular attention to the evangelical appropriation of that legacy and its role in current political realities. I cannot commend this book highly enough.”

David P. Gushee
— Center for Theology & Public Life, Mercer University
“Highly visible US evangelicals endorsed and still support Donald Trump, some doing so in the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, to the horror of the vast majority of serious students of the great German theologian and resister. Stephen Haynes long ago carved out a niche as the single best scholarly interpreter of the American reception of Bonhoeffer. Here he not only updates his scholarly work but also enters the Bonhoeffer-Trump-evangelicals debate himself with an impassioned warning to evangelicals to reverse their surrender to Trump before it is too late. This is a riveting book that every US Christian should read—immediately.

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