"I simply cannot believe that a young man in his twenties could write such a mind-boggling, thought-provoking, and insightful masterpiece as Sanctorum Communio. I feel that I will never think of “church” in quite the same way again. In fact, I feel like I’ve just been given a view of a mountain that I know I must go back and climb again, but the overall sensation of its height is so startling that I’m not quite sure how to begin.... Karl Barth would later say of this work, “I openly confess that I have misgivings whether I can even maintain the high level reached by Bonhoeffer, saying no less in my own words and context, and saying it no less forcefully, than did this young man so many years ago”. He would also call this book “a miracle.”
It is steeped in sociological categories that many readers might find offputting. I do not claim to have followed some of the more technical aspects of the social philosophy sections, but struggling through these parts is reward enough in and of itself to warrant the effort. Even so, I daresay that the work is accessible enough to anybody who cares deeply about the church. I found it to be so anyway. (In a strange way this book reminds of Moby Dick. I had to sludge through some of the sailing history and terminology that was, frankly, foreign to me. But the story, and, on hindsight, the foundation that the denser parts of that book lend to the story, was overwhelming.)"
Sanctorum Communio Book Review
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