He places a special emphasis on seeing how evangelicals have viewed Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Haynes surveys the history of interpretation of Bonhoeffer, particularly in America, through the next several chapters. The baffling array of topics Bonhoeffer is alleged to have endorsed or condemned suggests that the quote mining being done through his legacy belies an inner complexity that is far deeper. Haynes notes how Bonhoeffer was cited on one hand by Vietnam draft resisters, peace activists, liberation theologians, death-of-God thinkers on the left, and on the right by people who oppose abortion or same-sex marriage (and, regarding the latter, Haynes notes insights from both Charles Marsh’s Strange Gloryand Diane Reynolds The Doubled Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer for reasons this may be quite inaccurate]). Marsh sets the table well, asking: “Have you heard progressive Christians cite the passage in Ethics calling abortion ‘nothing but murder’? Or recall Bonhoeffer’s preference for monarchy over democracy?” (xii).

Haynes notes how people on both the right and left have distorted or ignored aspects of Bonhoeffer’s legacy to turn in him into a supporter of their own positions.

Though the subtitle is “Debating Discipleship in the Age of Trump,” there is far more to the book than dealing with the recent Trump phenomenon. Unfortunately, as Haynes notes throughout this book, few people are concerned with doing so. Like Martin Luther, for example, reading Bonhoeffer and interpreting him is like peeling away the layers of an onion, trying to get to the core. In my own reading of Bonhoeffer’s works, it is clear that it would be simple to find conflicting messages even within the same sermons at times.

Yet Bonhoeffer’s legacy is far more complex than a simple Google quote mine would allow. ‘Excerpting Bonhoeffer’ has become a familiar exercise in each team’s effort to win…” (ix).

As Charles Marsh puts it in his Foreword, “It is understandable… that readers with different theological and ideological perspectives would desire to claim Bonhoeffer as their own. Haynes highlights the ways that people across theological, social, and political spectrums have played tug-of-war with Bonhoeffer’s thought, words, and legacy.

Metaxas bonhoeffer