On Metaxas' Bonhoeffer

Review of “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy” a biography written by Eric Metaxas.

I was looking forward to reading this book as I had long been a fan of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I was particularly eager to see how Metaxas would reconcile Bonhoeffer’s discipleship in the way of Jesus and his commitment to non-violence with his participation in the plot to assassinate Hitler. Although Metaxas thoroughly builds the rationale for Bonhoeffer’s eventual participation in the conspiracy as an act of obedience in his commitment to Christ, I felt that he underplayed his belief in and commitment to non-violence. The pieces were there, such as the central place of Jesus’ “sermon on the mount” in Bonhoeffer’s theology and his links to the Moravians through early influences in his mother’s life and the presence of the van Horn sister’s in the Bonhoeffer home as caregivers for the children. Also Metaxas implies that Bonhoeffer had more than a passing interest in Ghandi’s life and teaching. However Metaxas never really draws these pieces together to show how these lead to a commitment to non-violence, if not pacifism, in Bonhoeffer’s theology, something that I believe makes for greater creative tension and ambivalence in his story.

Given the extent to which Metaxas uses material from Bonhoeffer’s friend Eberhard Bethge in this book, one could wonder why another biography was needed as Bethge has already written a rather extensive biography on Bonhoeffer. One wonders what Metaxas work adds to what Bonhoeffer’s friend has already written. Metaxas quotes extensively from source material, sometimes to the extent that the prose becomes a little tedious. I also found that it was not always easy to follow the development of the narrative because of the way Metaxas tended to flash forward and back from cited dates in the narrative. I found that I frequently had to refer back to a previously cited date to re-establish where I was in the time line. I would have appreciated some maps to establish the geographical context at several points in the story.

All in all, I appreciated this refresher on Bonhoeffer’s life and the context in which he lived out his discipleship. His life and teaching continue to inspire admiration and respect for the man and his insights into the Christian life.

This book has been provided courtesy of Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available now at your favourite bookseller.

On Peace for Afghanistan - Why not love?

Listen to the heart of this 15-year-old Afghan boy named Zekerullah:
The wish to smile, to be human - raising the possibility of love...
Full story here: http://ourjourneytosmile.com/blog/

It feels like all the anger and doubts of life and death
have ‘collected’ within us in Afghanistan.

It isn’t easy.

We tell each other that we’ll cope somehow with the challenges of survival and harsh physical circumstances before us, even to cope unwillingly with death. What we can’t cope with is the global poverty of love and truth.

And oh, such distance between souls.

Hence, we live constantly hoping and constantly despairing.

We constantly hope because love imparts resolve to people of any age.

We constantly despair because hate seems so uncontrollably noisy.

We walk around hoping and despairing.

We’ve heard everyone claiming the winning strategy over those already cornered.
It mocks a child’s wisdom, so why?

We’ve pitted God/Love against Satan/Hate in hurting and killing.
It drives us to frantic hypocrisy, so why?

We’ve demonized ‘the others’ to deify ourselves.
It amputates our shared essentials, so why?

We’ve tried war.
It doesn’t work. We know it doesn’t work, so why?

Why?

Why this incongruent life of self-absorption, anger and fear?

I refuse the dictation that our pain is passive, or alone.

I refuse to weep this way.

With this smile transforming us, Zekerullah isn’t shy in crying out to you, you who may hear him as we should hear ourselves, “Why not love?”

For we constantly hope that your love would find some way.

Yes, we keep our hearts hoping that our love would find some way.

Heart to heart!

I want to be your friend.

To set my small heart free.

If you should kill me unawares, don’t forget I had asked for your friendship & love.

On Work

The standing joke in my family is that I don't work. The joke dates back a few years when I was working from home with a fairly flexible schedule. One day when my mother needed some help she called me, beginning the conversation with, "since you don't work...." Well there is some truth to this perception. What I do for a living is so enjoyable, it hardly seems like work. My job has virtually every element that I would have listed in the ideal job. As Director of Scripture Translations for the Canadian Bible Society I get to work with the greatest team of colleagues. I get lots of variety; from hosting workshops to supporting my fabulous team to performing quality assurance checks on translations. My job includes plenty of travel around the globe, sometimes to amazing and exotic locations where I get to meet the most wonderful people and hear all manner of beautiful languages. I have the satisfaction of knowing that what I do matters and has lasting value for people and the communities in which they live. Recently our office hosted 5 members of the Haitian Bible translation team. They are currently working on a Study Bible in Haitian Creole. Their work has been severly disrupted by the aftermath of the earthquake earlier this year. What a tremendous privilege to get to know these brilliant and dedicated Haitian pastors who care deeply for their nation and their people. It was so inspiring to hear them talk about the positive impact of the Scriptures they are translating in order to bring hope to people in their time of great distress. One of the team is a pioneer in the development and promotion of Creole as the national language of Haiti. All of them spoke of the important role that the translation of the Bible has played in the development of their language and in the spiritual life of their people. Here is part of a message sent by one of the team to let us know he got home safely. He says: "These past two weeks in Kitchener/Waterloo were very beneficial in different manners. Firstly, it was refreshing for the team to have to work for two weeks without having to face all the challenges we all know Haiti is going through these days. Secondly, in leaving Kitchener we feel more confident in our ability to go on and complete this project to the very end. Thirdly,it was such a great blessing for us to visit you all. We really enjoy your fellowship.  Thank you for your acceptance, patience, generosity and kindness to us. We all appreciate it so very much!" I get to do what I love, I get paid for it and people let me know how much they appreciate it. Can that really be called work?

Hart2Heart: On inefficient loitering

Hart2Heart: On inefficient loitering: "Most North Americans of my vintage tend to be goal oriented. It hadn't occured to me that there was any other way to be until we went to liv..."

On inefficient loitering

Most North Americans of my vintage tend to be goal oriented. It hadn't occured to me that there was any other way to be until we went to live in the Philippines. There we found that most people tend to put relationships above goals. A core value for most Filipinos is "Smooth Interpersonal Relationships (SIR)." It took me a while to get my head around this. When we started living in Asibanglan and learning Kalinga, a previously unwritten language, we set up an office where I could focus on the work of learning and analyzing the language. People would frequently stop by the office to visit - an interruption for me in my "work." One day a wise Kalinga friend observed that I was going about things all wrong. He suggested that the way to learn their language was not to sit in my office pouring over my notes and texts, but by going out and interacting with the people of the village. I knew I still had to do the former, but I tried to take his advice and do more of the latter. We were still pretty goal oriented because we had a job to do. Our primary assignment, the translation of Scripture, finally got done in spite of many interruptions and I think we learned something about SIR along the way. Then a couple of years ago I was at a conference where an Asian was invited to speak to a gathering made up of mostly western missionaries. He urged us westerners to get past our preoccupation with our goals and engage in some "inefficient loitering" for a change. Ginny and I hope to do a bit of that when we go to spend a month with our Kalinga "family" in the Philippines in January. I just learned another way of talking about this concept when we went to see "Eat, Pray, Love" last night. "Il dolce far niente" is how they talk about the sweetness of doing nothing in Italian. As I approach birthday #65 I hope to learn about "Il dolce far niente" and enjoy the warmth of being with the people I love more and more.

On Marriage

Ginny and I have been married 40 years today. It has been quite a journey together so far. When we made our commitment, we were agreed on a life of cross-cultural mission together, but we could no have imagined all that would mean. It certainly was not the easiest path we could have chosen, but we are left with so many great memories. I am grateful for a wife who was willing to leave the comforts of home for a life of pilgrimage, including years spent in one of the remotest corners of the world, in Kalinga. Those years were not easy but we look back on them with a lot of nostalgia. Those years taught us something of what our Lord meant when he talked to his followers about leaving mother and father but receiving much more in return. The Kalinga people adopted us and gave us new family which have added much joy to our journey. Some people questioned our decision to raise our children in such a far off place, but we see that growing up in the Philippines was a wonderful experience for them too - no regrets there.We are blessed in our years together to have been given opportunity to do work that is enjoyable and meaningful. We have added many cherished friendships that have added joy and companionship along the way. We are blessed to have been part of a larger family where marriage is valued and to participate in a faith community that has helped foster the values of faithfulness, hope and love which have provided a sure path for our journey together. When we looked with love and wonder into each others eyes and promised to be faithful to each other, we could not have imagined what even 40 years would bring. They have been good years and reflecting back we are renewed in our resolve to see the journey through for as many more years as God gives us. Thanks for being my faithful and loving companion Ginny. I love you.

The blessing of family

The last two weeks have been filled with memorable activities with family. For 10 days our house was filled with laughter, crying, turmoil and drama as all our children and grandchildren were home with us. For most meals we were at least 15 people, including 5 children 3 and under. For me it was a delight to sit at the head of this full table and savour, not just the food we shared, but also the memories we were making together.  We enjoyed outings to the African Lion Safari and the beach. We also participated in a gathering of the larger Wiens family, with all my siblings and their offspring together for a day in the Park. Even my dad who is mostly confined to his room these days, made it for an hour to eat with us all. But mostly we stayed around home. It was such a joy to see the little ones playing together with great imagination for hours. How blessed I am to be a part of such a large family and to have children and grandchildren who enjoy coming home and spending time together. This Sunday Ginny and I celebrate 40 years of marriage. We have a lot to be thankful for, not least is the children and grandchildren God has blessed us with. 

My first attempt at blogging. Today I am looking forward to going to the airport to pick my son Allan, coming in from Edmonton and my son Jason and his family, coming in from Spokane, WA. They will be with us for 10 days. It will be a bit chaotic, but fun and conducive to building family memories. Saturday we all, including Andrea and her family, go to St. Catharines to join the extended Wiens clan for a mid year family picnic.