John McCabe is Research Associate at the Von HĂĽgel Institute, Cambridge and served as Rector of St Mary’s Church Byfleet from 2006 to 2024. In this interview, he kindly answered some questions about his new book, Dietrich Bonhoeffer–The Last Eight Days (Baylor University Press, 2024).
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The author of Ecclesiastes may as well have remarked that of the making of books on Bonhoeffer in the twenty-first century, there is no end. Okay, this is an exaggeration, but still, the past decade or two have seen a number of books about him–from Eric Metaxas’s controversial take (and the Bonhoeffer family is now even considering a lawsuit against Metaxas), to the work of Charles Marsh and Laura Fabrycky, to name just a few. And then there is the new Bonhoeffer film too! I’d love to hear the back story of how you came to write this book: when did you realize that yes, another book on Bonhoeffer is necessary?
Gosh! I didn’t write it because of its being necessary! I was first introduced to Bonhoeffer in 1999 in a module about Church history! I liked the sound of the confessing Church. Then while at Bible college I was impressed by the thought of a seminary leader training ordinands who had to memorize Scripture in case of arrest. So! The theme grew on me and given that I love speaking and working in French and German I purchased all the DBW series in 2004 (in German) and attended a few Bonhoeffer conferences. I learned that if you do a PhD the first year is all about reading all primary sources … so guess what you can save a lot on fee payments if you do all that! I found a kind parishioner who typed up my weekly translation notes, 120,000 words in the end, found 2 excellent supervisors in 2009 and finished my PhD in 2015!
I discovered that I find it super hard to accept amendments. So when a potential publisher of my thesis wanted many changes, I decided to wait for a while. In April 2017–while on sabbatical in Australia–a writer friend and her husband challenged me “You should write about this history period.” Next morning found me in Brisbane library beginning the work on researching this book!
Your book focuses specifically on Bonhoeffer’s final week. Why is this time period important? What does the focus on this final week of his life add to our understanding of him?
The book is about Bonhoeffer’s final few days before being driven off to face a one-sided trial and grim death. The period is important because in all the fog of half-accurate Bonhoeffer understandings, people have acquired a notion of (as one author actually wrote) Bonhoeffer’s being executed on (even) the final day of World War II!!! People have in their minds this idea that US forces were virtually within earshot of Flossenbürg. It sort of all adds to the drama.
I wanted an accurate account to be out there, and one which relates to military history in a modest way. Bonhoeffer biographers have never spotted–for example–the fact that the US troops who would eventually liberate FlossenbĂĽrg a fortnight after his execution were the same men who had landed at Utah beach ten long months earlier. Think of them landing on the coast in France and hand-to-hand fighting all the way across Europe deep into Germany!
In addition, I wrote up the project in no small measure because I was so resoundingly dissatisfied that all the Bonhoeffer biographers I could access had said the same hazy and even rose-tinted things for 70 years. The evident pattern was one of just re-hashing the well-rehearsed account and outline events–the same list of names, all regurgitated, with corresponding inaccuracy, as it turns out, time after time!–with, seemingly, nothing new ever being researched. Now, that’s changed! There is an abundance of new and original material in this publication. In just one of many instances of this–all of those who spent the last days with Bonhoeffer at least have names, photographs and the beginnings of a story. (At the behest of important German contributors, I exclude Rascher from the front cover)
This study adds a lot to our understanding of Dietrich. He died as he lived – reading the classics, high-level ethics, and Goethe; and pastoring ecumenically. On the day of his final sermon, he preached from the Losungen, which he read every day. The book in his hand at that moment was printed on paper especially flown into Germany by courtesy and permission of Himmler and Goebbels. Further, in relation to that final morning: this study shows with a good level of confidence how the words he spoke in his last sermon caused listeners to lose track of time. Even more, quite by chance – I discovered the actual German words most likely spoken by the two officials who collected him and drove him away; Bonhoeffer – fertig machen zur Abreise! My German editor wants to make more of that than I have done in the footnote in the English edition. I also release [relatively] new material for Bonhoeffer biographers in a further two small instances of detail – the fact that in using threats against his fiancĂ©e, the Gestapo had found his point of vulnerability, and second, in publishing the inscription he wrote in an original 1937 copy of Nachfolge – which relates, helpfully, to his ordination vows made in 1931.
In what ways (if any) did working on this project change you and affect you–whether as a scholar or theologian or a believer? And what is your hope for your readers? What are the most important takeaways you hope they will get from reading your book?
I think we are always changed by deepening our understanding. I seem to recall I wrote something like that. I feel profoundly at peace that the research is done and the untold story is told. With the help of some amazing maps! I also wrote that it is my aspiration that the book will encourage further Bonhoeffer study. It’s always so rich, as I have found in pastoral ministry – but also in everyday work. Responsible work. Bonhoeffer was big on that. It’s my prayer for the book that it will speak to people in different languages and contexts of the importance of courage – without rose-tinted glasses.
What are some big-picture questions that fascinate you in your reading, writing, and thinking?
One of the people surprised and nudged by the book into further study and research–is me! I’m intrigued by difficult-to-answer questions. I remember in Cambridge, a German Professor and Bonhoeffer scholar– when I told him about my reason for being part of the VHI and this project – asking me with great disbelief – Aber, was sind die Quellen? (What are the sources?) I answered him – There are none! That’s what I’m excited to find out!
It always feels a little bit aggressive to ask someone who has just published a book: what’s next? But I’m asking this in my most friendly and non-threatening tone: What is next for you?
Well, I have confessed to you that I find accepting (needed/corrective) input a challenge. I most of all want to do justice to this project before I move on. The German edition, in theory out in February, is keeping me really busy for now. Oh yes, and on the Bonhoeffer film – well do go and watch it, but please: How about in conjunction with the measured account I am offering!