Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker
A Theological Vision for Discipleship and Life Together
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The youth ministry focus of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's life is often forgotten or overlooked, even though he did much work with young people and wrote a number of papers, sermons, and addresses about or for the youth of the church. However, youth ministry expert Andrew Root explains that this focus is central to Bonhoeffer's story and thought. Root presents Bonhoeffer as the forefather and model of the growing theological turn in youth ministry. By linking contemporary youth workers with this epic theologian, the author shows the depth of youth ministry work and underscores its importance in the church. He also shows how Bonhoeffer's life and thought impact present-day youth ministry practice.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Root (The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry) shines a light on an under-examined aspect of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's life: his work as a youth pastor. This omission in the literature surprises: up until the Nazis made youth ministry impossible for him, it was central to Bonhoeffer's mission. The Lutheran pastor and theologian thought deeply about the role of youth in church, and his ideas, expressed most succinctly in eight theses, provide a corrective to current youth ministry issues, such as an overemphasis on numbers and growth, the isolation of youth within churches, and the treatment of youth itself as somehow special. Bonhoeffer argued that young people must be centrally integrated into the life of the church community and find their distinctiveness in being part of the body of Christ. Most importantly, as Root emphasizes, Bonhoeffer's approach was experiential: Christian life could only grow through "concrete and lived experience." Using Bonhoeffer's rich and varied work with youth, as well as his books Life Together and Discipleship, Root makes a thoughtful and compelling contribution both to Bonhoeffer studies and youth ministry.
