DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

God Is in the Manger

Reflections on Advent and Christmas

TRANSLATED BY O. C. DEAN JR.

COMPILED AND EDITED BY JANA RIESS

© 2010 Westminster John Knox Press

First edition

Published by Westminster John Knox Press

Louisville, Kentucky

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Westminster John Knox Press, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202-1396. Or contact us online at www.wjkbooks.com.

Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible are copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and are used by permission.

Scripture quotations from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible are copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971, and 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and are used by permission.

Devotional text herein originally appeared in

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s I Want to Live These Days with You: A Year of Daily Devotions (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007).

Cover design by designpointinc.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, 1906–1945.

[Selections. English. 2010]

God is in the manger : reflections on Advent and Christmas / by Dietrich

Bonhoeffer ; translated by O. C. Dean Jr. ; compiled and edited by Jana Riess.

—1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-664-23429-4 (alk. paper)

1. Advent—Meditations. 2. Christmas—Meditations I. Riess, Jana. II. Title.

BV40.B66513 2010

242'.33—dc22

2010003667

CONTENTS

TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE

EDITOR’S PREFACE

ADVENT WEEK ONE

WAITING

ADVENT WEEK TWO

MYSTERY

ADVENT WEEK THREE

REDEMPTION

ADVENT WEEK FOUR

INCARNATION

THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS AND EPIPHANY

SCRIPTURE INDEX

TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE

Since Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote before the days of inclusive gender, his works reflect a male-oriented world in which, for example, the German words for “human being” and “God” are masculine, and male gender was understood as common gender. In this respect, his language has, for the most part, been updated in accordance with the practices of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (NRSV); that is, most references to human beings have become gender-inclusive, whereas references to the Deity have remained masculine.

While scriptural quotations are mostly from the NRSV, it was necessary at times to substitute the King James Version (KJV), the Revised Standard Version (RSV), or a literal translation of Luther’s German version, as quoted by Bonhoeffer, in order to allow the author to make his point. In a few other cases, the translation was adjusted to reflect the wording of the NRSV.

O. C. Dean Jr.