Product Description

One of the century's respected theologians reveals the elegant and meticulous analyses of two of the most important and least understood religious concepts--the fall from grace and the nature of evil. Reprint.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #140069 in Books
• Published on: 1997-03-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Customer Reviews

The Rhythms and Lessons of Creation
If you are already familiar with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the wonderfully perceptive German theologian who was killed in a Nazi concentration camp in 1945, then this book will serve to deepen your understanding of Bonhoeffer's theology. If this is your introduction to Bonhoeffer, then you are in for a delightful surprise. In his short, but dense, analysis of the Genesis story of humanity's creation and fall, Bonhoeffer asks the reader to view the familiar with new eyes - with our eyes fixed firmly on God, not on traditional readings of Genesis. Creation reveals much about God - our sovereign God of life, who worked and rested, and offered the same blessings of work and rest to us. Creation also reveals much about humanity, our desire to be God, and our guilt about disobeying God. In the course of his delightful book, Bonhoeffer wrestles with the fundamental issues of good and evil, of temptation, of the graceful limits imposed by God, and humanity's "freedom." If you, too, have ever wrestled with such questions, this book will guide you and challenge you in your thinking.

beyond the mundane
These are two of the most lucid and insightful commentaries I have ever read. Bonhoeffer moves beyond the usually mundane issues often dealt with when discussing the creation and fall. Instead, he places the focus on God and on how the creation and fall effect our lives as human beings.

Temptation is a poignant counterpoint to the story of the fall. It points the way through the darkness of our everyday lives and to the one who is the Way, the Truth and the Life...Jesus Christ.

Let there be a review, and there was
Bonhoeffer reads like Plato philosophy. Part of this is due it being translated from German, and part is because he's indeed waxing very deeply philosophical about Genesis. It's fairly amazing he can discuss such a small passage for 144 pages, and at times it feels like he's going in circles repeating himself.
His ideas, though, are intriguing. He reads alot into each sentence individually, and then how it fits into the whole. He finds inconsistencies, and then explains them away. I'm not a religious person, but I feel the book gave me a better ability to understand Biblical literature at a deeper level.