Volume 11 in the sixteen-volume Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works English Edition, Ecumenical, Academic, and Pastoral Work: 1931-1932, provides a comprehensive translation of Bonhoeffers important writings from 1931 to 1932, with extensive commentary about their historical context and theological significance. This volume covers the significant period of Bonhoeffer's entry into the international ecumenical world and the final months before the beginning of the National Socialist dictatorship. It begins with Bonhoeffer's return to Berlin in June 1931 after his year of study in the United States. In the crucial period that followed, Bonhoeffer continued his preparations for the ministry, began teaching at Berlin University, and became active at international ecumenical meetings. His letters and lectures, however, also document the economic and political turbulence on the European and world stage, and Bonhoeffer directly addresses the growing threat of the Nazi movement and what it portends not only for Germany, but for the world. Several of the documents in this volume, particularly the student notes of his university lecture on "The Nature of the Church" and his lectures on Christian ethics, give important insights into his theology at this point. His ecumenical lectures and reports are significant documents for understanding the ecumenical debates of this period.
Victoria J. Barnett served from 2004-2014 as one of the general editors of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, the English translation series of Bonhoeffer's complete works published by Fortress Press. She has lectured and written extensively about the Holocaust, particularly about the role of the German churches. Her published works include Bystanders: Conscience and Complicity during the Holocaust (1999) and For the Soul of the People: Protestant Protest against Hitler (1992). Since 2004 she has directed the Programs on Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. She is a graduate of Indiana University, Union Theological Seminary, New York, and George Mason University. Isabel Best has contributed translations to a number of volumes in the English language series of Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works published by Fortress Press, including Letters and Papers from Prison, Vol. 8 (2009), Berlin: 1932-1933, Vol. 12(2009), London, 1933-1935, Vol. 13 (2007), and Ecumenical, Academic, and Pastoral Work: 1931-1932, Vol. 11 (2012). She was also the translator of Ferdinand Schlingensiepen"s Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1906-1945: Martyr, Thinker, Man of Resistance (2010). Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the most significant Protestant theologians of the twentieth century, a legacy sealed by his imprisonment in a German concentration camp and eventual execution. His resistance against Nazism and pivotal role in the Confessing Church movement have been key points of illumination for many on the nature of Christian political witness and action. Millions have been inspired by his rich reflections on the Christian life, especially his beloved works on discipleship and ethics. As a professor, seminary leader, and ecumenical theologian, Bonhoeffer's work also profoundly shaped academic theology, especially systematic theology, and the life of the church. Mark Brocker is Pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Beaverton, Oregon and teaches at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley.
