 | The Collected Sermons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer Preaching, according to Bonhoeffer, is like offering an apple to a child. The gospel is proclaimed, but for it to be received as gift depends on whether or not the hearer is in a position to do so. Offered here are thirty-one of Pastor Bonhoeffer's sermons, in new English translations, which he preached at various times of the year and in a variety of different settings. Each is introduced by Bonhoeffer translator Isabel Best who also provides a brief biography of Bonhoeffer. The foreword is by Victoria J. Barnett, general editor of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, English edition, published by Fortress Press, from which these sermons are selected. In his preaching, Bonhoeffer's strong, personal faith the foundation for everything he did shines in the darkness of Hitler's Third Reich and in the church struggle against it. Though not overtly political, Bonhoeffer's deep concern for the developments in his world is revealed in his sermons as he seeks to draw the listener into conversation with the promises and claims of the gospel a conversation readers today are invited to join. Isabel Best has contributed translations to a number of volumes in the English language series of Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works published by Fortress Press, including Letters and Papers from Prison , Vol. 8 (2009), Berlin: 1932-1933 , Vol. 12(2009), London, 1933-1935 , Vol. 13 (2007), and Ecumenical, Academic, and Pastoral Work: 1931-1932 , Vol. 11 (2012). She was also the translator of Ferdinand Schlingensiepen"s Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1906-1945: Martyr, Thinker, Man of Resistance (2010). |
