The author is a well-known expert on Bonhoeffer. However, this book is an examination of how his writings are being used as political agendas.

I have a problem with the author's editorializing about the current administration. Whether or not you are a Trump supporter, by adding the postscript, "Christians who love Bonhoeffer but (still) support Trump..." and attacking Eric Metaxas' book, "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy," he turned me off any of the positive things that were part of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Without doubt, Bonhoeffer is a figure well fought over, whether from the left or the right.

Unfortunately what is presented in popular literature is a caricature of the real Bonhoeffer, and one made in the image of the portrayer. But Bonhoeffer was his own man and has his own context and theological tradition. He is not easily defined as an evangelical.

The author, who is well credentialed to write on this subject seeks to free Bonhoeffer from this popularist captivity and allow readers to understand that Bonhoeffer doesn't easily fit a nice defined box to suit our needs.

This reveiwer at least in his opinion wished the book would tackle more of unveiling the real Bonhoeffer. It is a welcome addition to literature on Bonhoeffer.

The Battle for Bonhoeffer
by Stephen R. Haynes, Foreword by Charles Marsh
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Christian , Religion & Spirituality
Pub Date 13 Sep 2018
I am reviewing The Battle For Bonhoeffer through WM.B Eerdman's Publishing Company and Netgalley:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in 1906 and died in 1945. In this book biographer Stephen Haynes talks about how many in politics have come to use him as a clay puppet. Secular, radical, liberal and evangelical each try to shape this Martyr’s legacy to fit their agendas
As much as the author accuses those of fitting Bonhoeffer’s legacy to fit their own agenda’s I found the author of this book disappointingly did the same!
I give The Battle for Bonhoeffer three out of five stars!
Happy Reading!

Stephen Haynes is a recognized scholar regarding the life and theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This book, however, is not about either one, but about how Bonhoeffer has been injected into popular culture and appropriated by various political agendas. Those with political agendas on the right and the left have used Bonhoeffer as their hero to support a political position. Fore example, the right wing during the Obama Administration saw Bonhoeffer as a leader against a culture that has forsaken the American Way. Conversely, the left sees Trump as a new Hitler and calls upon Americans to "put a spoke in the wheel" before tyranny takes over.
I have been a student of Bonhoeffer since the late 70's and wrote my master's thesis on his Ethics. He is surely turning over in his grave to see how his writings have been co-opted to support various political agendas. Bonhoeffer was primarily a pacifist and hoped to go to India to sit at the feet of Gandhi. He wrote more about the establishment of the Kingdom of God in the midst of the world than about using Christianity to support a political agenda.
This book is an interesting survey of the popularization of Bonhoeffer over the past 10 years. Haynes warns against the creation of a hero for a political cause, but in the last chapter is guilty of using Bonhoeffer in his polemic against Trump and those who have forsaken their faith to follow him. It is an interesting slice of American popular history, but no more than that.
Thanks to Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company and NetGalley for providing a pre-publication copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Extraordinary work on the appropriation of Bonhoeffer in Christianized American politics. Haynes sets the record straight with an in-depth, scholarly analysis of how Bonhoeffer became the standard-bearer of Christian theological politics, both for right and the left, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Most affecting is Haynes personal reflections on the Bonhoeffer phenomenon. Highly recommended.

I read the Letter from Prison and other works of Bonhoeffer so I was curious about this book.
According to what I read and seeing how populism works I wanted to know how this thinker could be turned into a populist.
This book gave a lot of answers and a lot of food for thought about both Bonhoeffer and populism.
I appreciated the clarity of exposition and how deep the writer know Bonhoeffer.
A very interesting book that I highly recommend.
Many thanks to Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company and Netgalley for this ARC