The Doubled Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Women, Sexuality, and Nazi Germany

by Diane Reynolds

Overview

Few twentieth-century theologians have had a bigger impact on theology than Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man who lived his faith and died at the hands of the Nazis. For Bonhoeffer, the theological was the personal, life and faith deeply intertwined--and to this day the world is inspired by that witness. Yet the true story of the women in this remarkable man's life has until now been obscured by a conventional narrative that has distorted their role. Using primary source material by the women, and even including the first ever photo of alleged "first fiancee" Elisabeth Zinn, this book "sees" these women fully for the first time. A highly readable but scholarly work of narrative nonfiction, The Doubled Life places Bonhoeffer's theology of love and sexuality within the context of his struggles with women, friendship, and the evils of Nazi Germany.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498206570
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	03/11/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	466
File size:	37 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Diane Reynolds is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, and Publishers Weekly among other publications. She teaches literature and writing at the university level and also holds an MDiv from Earlham School of Religion.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations xi

Acknowledgments xiii

List of Abbreviations xv

Introduction 1

Prelude 21

Part I Pleasure and Pain (lob and ra)

1 "Sacred Space" 25

2 Ruptures 34

3 Life Amid the Ruins 39

4 Happy Times 46

5 Weddings 52

Part II Seeking Ground

6 Wanderings and Worries 61

7 Manhattan 65

8 Nazis 69

9 London 76

10 Battles and Choices 84

Part III The Incomparable Year

11 New Ground 93

12 New Arrival 97

13 Finkenwalde 101

14 Murmurs of War 107

15 First Encounter 110

16 Ruth 112

17 Collision Courses 117

Part IV Reconfigurations

18 New World 125

19 Days of Love and Hope 130

20 Squaring Off against the Führer 134

21 Friendship 139

22 "Convents" and Concentration Camps 145

23 What Will It Be? 149

Part V Decisions

24 Troubles 159

25 Escape 165

26 Changes 171

27 War Worries: 1939 176

28 London Redux 179

29 Sailing Away 185

30 Agony 189

31 Do You Want Me? 193

Part VI War and Conspiracies

32 Homecoming 201

33 Cold Idyll, Dark Nights 206

34 Winter, War, Wonder, Woe 210

35 Gert Gone 214

36 Darker Hours 219

37 Exile in Ettal 226

38 The Foretaste of Paradise 233

39 Human Hearts in 1941 237

40 Conspiracies 241

41 City Life, Country Life 247

42 Horrors and Joys 254

43 Shadows 260

Part VII Cornered: 1942-43

44 Risks 269

45 Ruth and Maria 275

46 Sweden, Krössin, Berlin 280

47 Maria 288

48 Pursuit 294

49 The Noose Tightens 300

50 Trapped 304

51 White Nurse 307

Part VIII Alone

52 Locked In 313

53 Care and Feeding 317

54 The Wedding Sermon 322

55 Don't You Like Being Romantic? 328

56 Writing and Dissatisfaction 333

57 Doubts and Delights 341

Part IX Eberhard and Maria

58 Joy 349

59 Christmas 354

60 Berlin Falling 362

61 Birth and Ruin 368

62 Seesaw 373

63 Maria, Eberhard 377

64 Unraveled 380

Part X Saints

65 Catastrophe 389

66 Endings 392

67 Revenge 396

68 Arrest 400

69 Escape 403

70 Threads 407

71 Over 411

72 More Threads 414

Epilogue 419

Appendix I Maria von Wedemeyer Timeline: 1935-45 421

Appendix II Orientation and Celibacy Questions 428

Bibliography 435

Index 443

Editorial Reviews

03/14/2016
PW reviewer and contributor Reynolds ambitiously treads where many have gone before with this biography of 20th-century German theologian Bonhoeffer, whose involvement in anti-Nazi resistance led to his execution in April 1945, three short weeks before Adolf Hitler committed suicide as the Third Reich collapsed. Reynolds focuses on the women in Bonhoeffer's life, who were many and influential; Bonhoeffer had a female twin, a fiancée, and a patron. He also had a close male friend, Eberhard Bethge, who became Bonhoeffer's definitive biographer. Using letters, photos, and published writings, Reynolds studies the social ecology of her subject, placing him in context to show whom he loved and how those relationships mattered. She doesn't argue for a romantic or sexual relationship between Bonhoeffer and Bethge, but makes a convincing case that their special friendship fit no conventional category. Her study also implicitly calls attention to the job and presumptions of any biographer. Given the complexity of the social network in which she locates Bonhoeffer, a list of figures in his life would have been helpful, as would photographs she refers to that are not included. The field of Bonhoeffer studies will benefit from this balanced correction to popular hagiography. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Bonhoeffer finally learned the best theology is a kind of writing that spans systematics, confession, narrative and poetry. The engaging biographical writing of Diane Reynolds presents a neglected side of the Bonhoeffer story: the place of women and the presence of sexuality in the Christian discipleship and political resistance of this German saint. This book will be a required text in my Bonhoeffer graduate seminar." Scott Holland, Slabaugh Professor of Theology & Culture, Director of Peace Studies at Bethany Theological Seminary "Diane Reynolds' The Doubled Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer offers a new and important perspective on the life of Bonhoeffer. Her broadening of our understanding of Bonhoeffer's immense contribution resonates with the changes in attitude toward homosexuality we are witnessing in the world today. Not only was Bonhoeffer a committed pacifist and protector of Jews during the Holocaust, but as Reynolds aptly suggests, Bonhoeffer's sexual orientation may have heightened his sensitivity to the plight of the marginalised under the Nazi Regime. Readers have much to gain from Reynolds' insights." Elaine Pigeon, author of Queer Impressions: Henry James's Art of Fiction "Reynolds' writing style as a journalist is engaging it makes a positive step toward bringing these undervalued women to light." Katie R. Leggett, in Theological Book Review, Vol 28, No 2

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