October 28, 2005

MINNEAPOLIS – The compelling story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, his resistance to the Nazi regime, and his sweeping postwar influence owe much to his close friendship with his fellow pastor Eberhard Bethge. In Daring, Trusting Spirit: Bonhoeffer's Friend Eberhard Bethge, distinguished theologian John de Gruchy narrates the course and consequences of that friendship, building on interviews and newly available primary sources.

Sympathetic yet astute, de Gruchy related Bethge's own development, his unlikely yet devoted friendship with Bonhoeffer, their fateful involvement in the Confessing Church movement and opposition to Hitler, and Bethge's remarkable postwar journey, nurturing worldwide reception and regard for Bonhoeffer's signal theological insights.

"Here is Bethge's own story, warmly told for the first time. From personal knowledge and unpublished papers John de Gruchy paints a portrait of Bethge's generous humanity during his eventful life in Hitler's Germany and the postwar world. Everybody who met Eberhard Bethge and everyone interested in Dietrich Bonhoeffer will want this book." –Clifford Green, Executive Director, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works

John W. de Gruchy is Robert Selby Taylor Professor of Christian Studies Emeritus at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Editor of the Making of Modern Theology series (Fortress Press), he is also author of Christianity and Democracy (1995), Christianity, Art, and Transformation (2001), Reconciliation (2002), and The Church Struggle in South Africa (3d ed. 2005). He is also editor of the Cambridge Companion to Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Daring, Trusting Spirit, Format: Paperback, 6" x 9," 224 pp, ISBN: 0-8006-3758-5, Price: $20.00, Publisher: Fortress Press, Rights: CUSA.

To order Daring, Trusting Spirit please call Fortress Press at 1-800-328-4648 or visit the Web site at http://www.fortresspress.com/.

Fortress Press