Reading Order
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Worksseries.seoTitleShort
Start with Sanctorum Communio and continue through all 17 books in the listed reading order.
Start Here
Start with Sanctorum Communio
Book 1 by Dietrich Bonhoeffer • Published 1930
Bonhoeffer’s doctoral dissertation argues that the church is a concrete social community where Christ is present, drawing on sociology and theology to describe how believers share life, guilt, and forgiveness as one b...
Complete List
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works reading order
Ends with Indexes and Supplementary Materials
- 1
Book 1:Sanctorum Communio
Dietrich Bonhoeffer • 1930
Bonhoeffer’s doctoral dissertation argues that the church is a concrete social community where Christ is present, drawing on sociology and theology to describe how believers share life, guilt, and forgiveness as one b...
- 2
Book 2:Act and Being
Dietrich Bonhoeffer • 1930
In this demanding but important study, Bonhoeffer examines how human thinking and acting relate to God’s self-revelation, criticizing both individualistic and purely intellectual accounts of faith and insisting that r...
- 3
Book 3:Creation and Fall
Dietrich Bonhoeffer • 1937
Based on lectures on Genesis 1–3, Creation and Fall explores the goodness of creation, the reality of sin, and the meaning of human freedom, setting classic biblical themes in conversation with modern questions about...
- 4
Book 4:Discipleship
Dietrich Bonhoeffer • 1937
This critical edition of Discipleship presents the original text of The Cost of Discipleship with extensive notes, tracing how Bonhoeffer’s reading of the Sermon on the Mount formed his call to costly grace and visibl...
- 5
Book 5:Life Together and Prayerbook of the Bible
Dietrich Bonhoeffer • 1939
This volume pairs Bonhoeffer’s beloved meditation on Christian community, Life Together, with his short guide to praying the Psalms, offering a picture of shared worship, confession, work, and Scripture that shaped hi...
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Book 6:Ethics
Dietrich Bonhoeffer • 1949
Left unfinished at his death, Ethics gathers Bonhoeffer’s mature reflections on responsible action before God in a world marked by guilt and ambiguity, asking what it means to tell the truth, protect life, and serve n...
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Book 7:Fiction from Tegel Prison
Dietrich Bonhoeffer • 1950
During his first year in Tegel prison, Bonhoeffer drafted an unfinished play, a novel fragment, and a short story. These imaginative pieces draw on his own experience to explore conscience, compromise, and courage und...
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Book 8:Letters and Papers from Prison
Dietrich Bonhoeffer • 1951
Written during two years of imprisonment, these candid letters, theological notes, and poems show Bonhoeffer thinking through suffering, guilt, and 'religionless Christianity', while staying connected to family, frien...
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Book 9:The Young Bonhoeffer, 1918–1927
Dietrich Bonhoeffer • 1952
This early volume of letters, sermons, and student papers follows Bonhoeffer from the end of World War I through his doctoral work, revealing a precocious mind already wrestling with church, community, and the meaning...
- 10
Book 10:Theological Education at Finkenwalde, 1935-1937
Dietrich Bonhoeffer • 1996
Drawing on lectures, circular letters, and sermons, this volume portrays Bonhoeffer’s illegal seminary at Finkenwalde, where he trained young pastors in Scripture, worship, community life, and pastoral care as the Con...
- 11
Book 11:Berlin: 1932–1933.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer • 1997
Focusing on the crisis years surrounding Hitler’s rise to power, this volume presents Bonhoeffer’s university lectures, sermons, and essays from Berlin, showing how he grappled with the church’s identity while Nazism...
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Book 12:Theological Education Underground: 1937-40
Dietrich Bonhoeffer • 1998
After the Gestapo closed his Finkenwalde seminary, Bonhoeffer continued training Confessing Church pastors in secret. This volume gathers their letters, circulars, lectures, and Bible studies, revealing a hidden netwo...
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Book 13:Barcelona, Berlin, New York: 1928–1931
Dietrich Bonhoeffer • 2003
This Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works volume traces his development as a young pastor and theologian through letters, sermons, and journals from his service in Barcelona, his Berlin lectures, and his formative year at Union...
- 14
Book 14:Conspiracy and Imprisonment 1940-1945
Dietrich Bonhoeffer • 2006
Here readers follow Bonhoeffer through the years of active resistance, arrest, and imprisonment, through hundreds of letters, official documents, and final theological fragments written as he participated in the consp...
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Book 15:London, 1933–1935
Dietrich Bonhoeffer • 2007
This volume documents Bonhoeffer’s pastorate in two German-speaking congregations in London, including sermons, letters, and reports that show how his time abroad deepened his resistance to the Nazified German church...
- 16
Book 16:Ecumenical Academic Pastoral Work
Dietrich Bonhoeffer • 2012
This Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works volume collects his lectures, sermons, and correspondence from 1931–1932, when he returned from the United States to Berlin, entered the ecumenical movement, and began challenging rising...
- 17
Book 17:Indexes and Supplementary Materials
Dietrich Bonhoeffer • 2014
This reference volume provides master indexes, chronologies, and a comprehensive list of documents for the multi-volume Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works edition, along with additional letters and essays that help readers tra...
Quick Answers
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works FAQ
What is the best order to read the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works series?
The recommended reading order is the numbered order shown on this page, starting with Sanctorum Communio.
How many books are in the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works series?
There are 17 books currently listed in the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works series on GurusReads.
Where should I start with the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works series?
New readers should start with Sanctorum Communio, the first book in the reading order.
Is the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works series complete?
Based on the publication years we have, the series appears likely complete and spans releases from 1930 to 2014.