Establishing the complexity and richness of Bonhoeffer's engagements with the cross over the breadth of his theological corpus, Michael Mawson also draws on Bonhoeffer's theology to engage more recent debates, examining how one can use it to engage with a modern world changed by a pandemic and devastating ecological incidences. Bonhoeffer wrote much of theology in response to theological and political crises in his own time and this book argues that his thinking can thus provide valuable insights for negotiating some of the crises confronting us.
The three parts of this book each focus on distinct areas of Bonhoeffer's theology of the cross., from hermeneutics to themes of suffering through to a focus on Bonhoeffer's engagement with community and discipleship. While previous scholars have focused on one (or sometimes two) of these areas, this book attends to the dense and complex ways in which these aspects of Bonhoeffer's thinking work together.