November 15, 2007

MINNEAPOLIS – Imagine spending forty days with a great spiritual guide who has both the wisdom and the experience to help you along the path of your own spiritual journey. Imagine being able to listen to and question spiritual guides from the past and the present. Imagine being, as it were, mentored by women and men who have made their own spiritual journey and have recorded the landmarks, detours, bumps in the road, potholes, and wayside rests that they encountered along the way-all to help others (like you) who must make their own journey.

In the new 40-Day Journey series from Augsburg Books, 40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, edited by Ron Klug, introduces Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a well-known and courageous German theologian and Lutheran pastor who was imprisoned and killed during the Nazi period and whose writings have inspired and influenced Christians around the world.

Executed for his role in a conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler and bring the Second World War to an end, his involvement was grounded in his conviction that discipleship to Jesus Christ required Christians to stand in solidarity with the oppressed by standing for and with the oppressed against the oppressor. His death was the final witness to his profound belief that obedience to Christ inevitably involves one in concrete and responsible action against evil on behalf of the victims of injustice.

As every generation of Christians seeks who Christ really is, for us in today's society, 40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer gives readers the opportunity to be mentored by one of the great spiritual writers and Christian leaders of the twentieth century. The purpose of the journey, however, is not just to gain "head knowledge" about Bonhoeffer. Rather, it is to begin living what you learn.

Every day of the journey begins with Reading from Bonhoeffer, followed by Biblical Wisdom, which is a brief passage from the Bible that relates directly to what Bonhoeffer has said, and Silence for Meditation, with suggested ways to center on the two readings.

After the reader feels his or her mind and spirit settling down, the volume offers Questions to Ponder, Psalm Fragment, and a section encouraging Journal Reflection. Suggestions for journaling apply the readings to the reader's own personal experience.

Following Journal Reflection, readers will find Intercessions. Bonhoeffer was convinced that one of the highest services a Christian can perform is intercessory prayer for family and friends, for one's community of faith, for the victims of injustice, and for one's enemies. This section offers suggestions for intercessory prayer that relate to the key points in the day's readings.

The last heading (before Notes) is Prayer for Today, a one-line prayer to end the reader's "appointment" with Bonhoeffer, and to be prayed from time to time throughout the day.

"Klug wonderfully succeeds at helping Bonhoeffer serve as a personal mentor on life's journey for today's serious disciple." – John W. Matthews, President, International Bonhoeffer Society-English Language Section.

Ron Klug is a freelance writer and editor living near Amery, Wisconsin. He is the author of How to Keep a Spiritual Journal.

40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ron Klug, editor, ISBN: 978-0-8066-5368-6, Price: $11.99 / CAN $14.50 / UK £6.99, Specs: 5.5" x 8.5," paperback, 144 pages.

To order 40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer call Fortress Press at 1-800-328-4648 or visit the Web site at http://www.fortresspress.com/.

Fortress Press