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Bonhoeffer in Britain Keith Clements
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 Clive Scott |
Springtime in Epping Ian McEwan, in a recent article, made a telling comment discussing TS Eliot (who has a walk-on part in this story): 'Ideally, having read our contemporaries, we re-read the dead poets with fresh understanding. In a living tradition, the dead never quite lie down.' This has a pertinent relevance for both the intent and content of this book, to which we will return. * The book is kind to the touch and the eye, beautifully produced (but with a few little errors which publishers seem unable to prevent). The cover gave me the title for this review, but I am not going to give the game away; you will enjoy the nugget of recollection. Springtime in Epping, but it was not Springtime in Germany (let the reader understand). Intended as a companion to Volume 13, LONDON 1933-35, of the English version of Bonhoeffer's Works (to be published 2006 by Fortress Press), Keith Clements has, l anticipate, done the job. If, indeed, our contemporaries can help us to read or re-read the dead poets with fresh understanding then we are indebted. When I get my hands on Volume 13 I am now, having read this book, going to read with the advantage of this author's skill and hard work. We will know better the Bonhoeffer who held the pen. The man on a journey, without directions, anxious, determined, confused, perceptive, human, and loveable. A man caught up in great events who is faithful to his call as pastor and preacher. There are stories (and photographs) old and new, presented with a freshness which help us to walk the streets Bonhoeffer walked, breathe the coal-smoked air, and shake the hand of the people he met. We have an introduction to his engagement with the people of a foreign country but who shared the same homeland. This is a good read, and I read it at a sitting. But I will return, because there is much to ponder. There are tantalising observations. For example, on page 115 the future of post-war Germany is briefly mentioned and questioned. Were the conspirators just acting out a Prussian aristocratic model when they thought there might be 'need for some time of a more authoritarian structure of government than the Anglo-Saxons envisage'? Is the relationship between law and liberty more complicated than we thought? Questions never asked, it seems, about Iraq! There are mocking mentions nowadays to the 'Bonhoeffer Industry', quotes for the day to be taken with the cod liver oil, and we need to be wary, but not distracted from the living tradition which opens for us the doors of time which stand across the now and the then. This book is part of the living tradition. In the penultimate chapter Clements movingly tells the story of the memorial service on 27 July 1945 in the Holy Trinity Church, Kingsway. He reminds us of the significance of this event at a time when the death-camps are being found and a new darkness envelops everything German; yet the church is crowded and the light flickers in the gloom, but it has not gone out. Bishop Bell gave the blessing. "The new career of Dietrich Bonhoeffer on earth had begun". Those words close the chapter. In a living tradition, the dead never quite lie down.
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