Bonhoeffer – Prophet and Martyr
A Play by John Henry Queripel
Resource Publications: Eugene, Oregen 2016
As one who cites Bonhoeffer’s life and writings as central to his own faith pilgrimage, I ordered a copy of this book. Not until I received it did I realise it was a play reading, not one more contribution to the many published books on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. So this was a genuinely unique angle – not as a publication for stage performance, but a play resource in seven Acts for learning more about Bonhoeffer’s life and writings.
There are twenty-four actors in this play, which rules this out of any staged performance! The resource offers an alternative. Throughout the readings, roles can be shared among those attending. Roles can be taken by different readers, though it may help to have key players – Bonhoeffer, Van Wedemeyer (fiancée of Bonhoeffer) – read by the same reader.
The publication has an Introduction A Life of Witness covering thirty three pages, followed by the play reading of around seventy pages. The group leader plays a key role. They will find the Introduction a helpful source of key points in the life of Bonhoeffer along with key theological themes in his life. Two key topics are explored in this play reading: ethical living in an age of uncertainties, and the nature of human love. Guided by the leader, the group can decide how many sessions will be held.
If I were to recommend Bonhoeffer to newcomers, four key publications would include: Cost of Discipleship, Life and Letters from Prison, Life Together, and any illustrated biography of Bonhoeffer. Cost of Discipleship, an early theological work which contrasts ‘cheap grace’ with ‘costly grace’. Life and Letters arose out of correspondence Bonhoeffer wrote while in prison. Life Together is a brief description of ministry training secretly conducted by the Confessing Church (the church that did not bow down to Hitler) and the illustrated lives remind us that it is as much his life as it is his writings that is the lasting legacy of Bonhoeffer.
I have reservations about Ethics, not completed. It is a subtle study of the metaphysical foundations of Protestant philosophy and theology in Europe. It is one of the achievements of Queripel’s book that his Introduction explains the ethical writings of Bonhoeffer, especially in Ethics, which have a significant part in the play reading.
I quote lines from the Introduction, beginning with Cost of Discipleship: ‘In this work Bonhoeffer called the Christian to go past absolute ethical ideas, which all too often serve as a means of opting out of decision making and action. Rather than maintaining moral purity by adhering to an abstract ideal, a Kantian ethical imperative, a Christian is called to action in obedience to the call and will of God. Too often, he wrote, Christians were reduced to inaction due to their often ego-centred concern for their moral purity rather than getting actively involved in a world where ethical decisions were not usually black or white and involved acting in a manner contrary to absolutes.’ The theological discourse titled ‘Situation Ethics’ explores this further. In the play Act 2, Scene 3, with Bonhoeffer in discussion with Judge Roeder, advocate for the Nazi legal regime, explores the ironies of Bonhoeffer’s life as a ‘double agent’. Laurie Chisholm’s article ‘Pastor, Spy, Assassin’ in Newsletter 179 August 2025 gives more details.
Bonhoeffer’s engagement to Van Wedemeyer illustrates equals in the rigour of theological debates. At a more personal level, there is the excitement of planning their wedding, and glimpses of the ardour of physical intimacies.
John Queripel, who lives in Newcastle Australia, has written four books, covering Easter, Incarnation, Buddhism, Bonhoeffer. An initial contact can be made via email: queripel@tpg.com.au Photocopying pages is breach of copyright. A bulk order for group study makes a lot of sense!
John Thornley