Reflections on the Bible: Human Word and Word of God

Reflections on the Bible contains excerpts from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s letters, meditations, expositions, sermons, lectures, and seminar papers (translated into English by New Testament scholar M. Eugene Boring). This variety provides a spectrum of approaches to Bonhoeffer’s thoughts on Scripture and its central role in academic study, sermons, teaching, pastoral care, and the conduct of one’s personal life. The topics addressed in this book stretch from Bonhoeffer’s thematic study of the historicalcritical method to his study of selected portions of Psalm 119, which Bonhoeffer regarded “as the crown of a theological life.” In selecting texts for this book, editor Manfred Weber focused on Bonhoeffer’s statements about the Bible and his struggle with those statements—which remain remarkably relevant today for individuals and churches, for Christians and non-Christians.

Arranged generally according to the flow of Bonhoeffer’s life of faith, this collection is framed by selections from letters he wrote in 1936—nine years before his execution by the Nazis—beginning with “A Grand Liberation” and ending with “The Answer.” In “The Answer,” Bonhoeffer explains “what it actually means to confess faith in the Bible, the strange place where the strange word of God is heard. Engagement with the Bible involves an intensive seeking and questioning. Without this, the Bible will offer no answer.”