One of the great classics of prison literature, Letters and Papers
from Prison effectively serves as the last will and testament of
the Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was
a young German pastor who was executed by the Nazis in 1945 for his
part in the "officers' plot" to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
This expanded version of Letters and Papers from Prison shifts
the emphasis of earlier editions of Bonhoeffer's theological
reflections to the private sphere of his life. His letters appear in
greater detail and show his daily concerns. Letters from Bonhoeffer's
parents, siblings, and other relatives have also been added, in
addition to previously inaccessible letters and legal papers
referring to his trial. Acute and subtle, warm and perceptive, yet
also profoundly moving, the documents collectively tell a very human
story of loss, of courage, and of hope. Bonhoeffer's story seems as
vitally relevant, as politically prophetic, and as theologically
significant today, as it did yesterday.