A good biography will grip you, move you, and challenge you. In really getting to know someone in all the dynamics that make him or her the person he or she was, you find out things about yourself and, perhaps, what you would like to be. When Mr. Marsh takes pen in hand on Bonhoeffer that is exactly the experience you have.

Mr. Marsh can write–that is obvious. He delved into his subject until he had something to say. He took a multifaceted view and hid nothing. Even what could have been mundane information, like certain academic pursuits, was woven together to show us the man progressing to become what he finally became in magisterial prose.

As you go along you find Bonhoeffer to be a spoiled kid far into adulthood, indulgent, lazy in physical work, and a lover of extended travel, and at times, a man with a temper. Still, you could not help but admire him. There is duplicity in us all, yet Christ can raise us above it. Though his theology was a good bit to the left of mine, I firmly believe he was a believer who not only loved the Lord, but grew to love Him more.

As with any of us he wrestled with some of the hard choices of life. In the end, he far more came down on the right side, a side fraught with danger and pain. I do not know what he died thinking, but he died a victor.

The only negative of the book was the suggestion that, perhaps, there was a homosexual attraction for his dear friend Bethge. That seemed a cheap gimmick for our ages’ fascination of homosexuality. The friendship was as close as possible, but Bethge always clearly refuted this suggestion. With no compelling evidence given, and knowing what a painful charge it would have been to Bonhoeffer who lacks the privilege to be alive to refute it, I suggest you toss it out so this otherwise great book will not be marred.

Still, this page-turner you will enjoy reading!

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Here is a definitive volume on the “Divine Messiah in Jewish thought” by Rabbi Itzhak Shapira. The candor of this volume comes from the author as a Rabbi deciding to delve into who the Messiah truly is. Trained to despise Christianity and Jesus Christ, his journey took is profound. These pages show the depths to which he dug and the thoroughness of his work. He went through all the documents that make up Jewish thought since Bible times. There is nothing superficial as you would usually find in such writings. What would satisfy one already a Christian will not satisfy an Orthodox Jewish person. He even explains why that is so when he goes at the heart of what Jewish writings actually say.

He begins by explaining why Christianity is so offensive to Jewish people. It is our belief of God becoming a man that they find complete idolatry. This he calls for a Jewish person “the ultimate uncleanness.” Hence, the pig, the ultimate unclean animal, is Christianity. He then sifts through, not only the Old Testament Scriptures, but the writings all through the centuries that define Jewish thought.

He finds extraordinary things in their writings. The pig (animal) will be kosher again when the Messiah comes.He finds that the midrash says the pig of Christianity will return when Messiah comes. You have to wade through a great deal of information, but you will be surprised on several occasions on what previous leaders and writings have said. It is clear–Jesus Christ fits perfectly into what their own writing say. It is not enough, as he says, to just quote Isaiah 53, but his findings, on the other hand, will give the most studious Jewish person pause. It may lead them to Christ as well.

This book is heavy and so is three stars to the uninitiated, but it is five stars plus for one immersed in Jewish thinking. I will then average it and give it four stars. It will make a fine reference tool as well.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.