Victoria J Barnett

An evocative portrait of a theologian who described himself as "God's cheerful partisan," who was honored as a prophet and a genial spirit, was feared as a critic, and shaped the theology of an entire century as no other thinker. "Victoria Barnett's splendidly fluid translation creates a strong sense of engagement with the narrative from beginning to end."—Donald K. McKim, Church History

Dietrich Bonhoeffer has achieved iconic status as one who epitomizes what it means to struggle and resist tyranny and fascism and how one acts in faithful witness as a religious and political commitment. His 1942 essay After Ten Years is a succinct and sober reflection, and remains one of the best descriptions ever written about what happened to the German people under National Socialism. This volume presents this timely and unique essay in a fresh translation and a penetrating introduction and analysis of the importance of this essay—in Bonhoeffer’s time and now in our own.

"In my view, Victoria Barnett is the world's foremost Bonhoeffer scholar. This brief new work elevates Dietrich Bonhoeffer's 'After Ten Years' essay to the central place in the Bonhoeffer canon that it deserves. Barnett's new introduction to this seminal Bonhoeffer text helps readers understand it better in its own context -- and in the context of our own troubled times. Highly recommended." --David P. Gushee, Mercer University, President of Society of Christian Ethics

The first systematic study of "bystanders" during the Nazi era and the Holocaust.  Barnett argues that bystander behavior cannot be attributed to a single cause, such as anti-Semitism, but can only be understood within a complex framework of factors that shape human behavior individually, socially, and politically. "Barnett's final pages are so pertinent, so powerful, that I would gladly have seen them all printed in italics. Indeed, were I now teaching an introductory course in Christian ethics, I would include this book as mandatory reading..."--Donald Shriver, president emeritus, Union Theological Seminary

A major study of the Confessing Church, the faction that fought against the Nazification of the German Protestant Church. Based on over 60 interviews conducted with leading figures from this movement, Barnett's book also includes the first extensive analysis of the role of women in the Confessing Church. "Combining the personal memories drawn from oral histories with archival research of church documents, Barnett has written a masterful work of history. Most important, the book is written in a vivid style that brings to life the complex moral dilemmas of the Third Reich."--Susannah Heschel, author of The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany.