The writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (born on Feb. 4^th) show the important interaction of faith, politics, and culture. A German-born theologian and activist in the Resistance Church, Bonhoeffer dared to counter National Socialism and the spread of Nazism.

An advocate for the Jews and contributor to a group planning Hitler’s overthrow, he was imprisoned in 1938, sent to Buchenwald, and then to Schoenberg Prison.  Two years after his execution in 1945, the collection of his “Letters and Papers from Prison” revealed the reasoning and deeply-rooted faith that led him to give his life for others.

Some of my favorites among his many books include:

+ The Cost of Discipleship, which attacks the “cheap grace” of faith without moral responsibility;

+ Life Together and Christ the Center, that describe the crucial core and nature of Christian community; and

+ Letters and Papers from Prison, published two years after his execution in 1945. It reveals the personal witness of his presence in Buchenwald. The book ended up inspiring the post-WWII world.