BradTaylor

Bonhoeffer: Chapter 2

The second chapter of Metaxas’ Bonhoeffer is decidedly shorter than the first, so this post won’t be quite as lengthy. In case you’re curious why I’m writing about this book, read this.

This chapter details Dietrich’s first semester of study at Tubingen, as well as his two-week training as a solider in the Black Reichswehr, a covertly-built army of university students. The chapter also taught me another tidbit about Dietrich’s family: his brother Karl-Friedrich split the atom, apparently. Yes, I said he split the atom. On his 18th birthday he wrote a letter to his twin sister, with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, trying to make her envious of the gifts he received. One of these “gifts” was the permission from his parents to spend the next semester studying in Rome. Dietrich would never return to Tubingen to study, but would complete his studies in Berlin.

While at Tubingen, Dietrich was part of a fraternity, the Igels. A fellow member of the Igels remembered Dietrich in this way: “…extremely secure and self-confident, not vain, but able to tolerate criticism.” Would that people would describe me that way! The ministry is as criticizable as any profession, and I need to be better able to tolerate that. This is one of the many things the Lord has already opened my eyes to in this fine piece of literature.