Dietrich Bonhoeffer Books in Order
41 books are credited to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, published between 1930 and 2014; 35 of them appeared after Dietrich Bonhoeffer's death in 1945. The first book is Sanctorum Communio (1930) and the newest is Indexes and Supplementary Materials (2014). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 41
- Published
- 1930–2014
- Pages on record
- 13,272 in 34 of 41 books
- Reading time
- 221–332 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 13,272 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 34 of 41 titles with a page count on record.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a German Lutheran pastor and neo-orthodox theologian who helped found the Confessing Church and opposed the Nazi state openly, from its euthanasia programme to its persecution of Jews. The Gestapo arrested Bonhoeffer in April 1943 and held him at Tegel Prison for eighteen months. The 41 catalogued titles run from Sanctorum Communio and Act and Being (1930) through Discipleship and The Cost of Discipleship (1937) to the collected Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, whose volume of indexes appeared in 2014. Letters and Papers from Prison and Fiction from Tegel Prison came out of the imprisonment.
How many Dietrich Bonhoeffer books are there?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer has 41 books, released between 1930 and 2014. 35 of them were published after Dietrich Bonhoeffer's death in 1945. 17 of them belong to the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works series.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 41 Dietrich Bonhoeffer books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 119303721/4
- 219302371/4
- 3The Cost of Discipleship1937 · 316 pages · confirmed 1/419373161/4
- 419371441/4
- 519374021/4
- 61939–1/4
- 719495931/4
- 819502871/4
- 919512541/4
- 1019526951/4
- 11Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible1959 · 86 pages · confirmed 1/41959861/4
- 12Christ the Center1960 · 125 pages · confirmed 1/419601251/4
- 13I Loved This People1966 · confirmed 1/41966–1/4
- 14No Rusty Swords1970 · confirmed 1/41970–1/4
- 15The Way to Freedom1971 · 272 pages · confirmed 1/419712721/4
- 16Letters to London1972 · confirmed 1/41972–1/4
- 17True Patriotism1973 · 256 pages · confirmed 1/419732561/4
- 18Prayers From Prison1978 · 94 pages · confirmed 1/41978941/4
- 19Meditating on the Word1985 · 136 pages · confirmed 1/419851361/4
- 20Spiritual Care1985 · 93 pages · confirmed 1/41985931/4
- 21A Testament To Freedom1990 · 565 pages · confirmed 1/419905651/4
- 22Theological Education at Finkenwalde, 1935-1937Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works #101996 · 1258 pages · confirmed 1/4199612581/4
- 2319976501/4
- 24The Mystery of Easter1998 · 48 pages · confirmed 1/41998481/4
- 25Meditations on the Cross1998 · 94 pages · confirmed 1/41998941/4
- 26Theological Education Underground: 1937-40Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works #121998 · 726 pages · confirmed 1/419987261/4
- 27Voices in the Night1999 · 128 pages · confirmed 1/419991281/4
- 2820037641/4
- 29Prison Poems2005 · 126 pages · confirmed 1/420051261/4
- 30I Want to Live These Days with You2005 · 394 pages · confirmed 1/420053941/4
- 31Meditations on Psalms2005 · 157 pages · confirmed 1/420051571/4
- 32A Year with Dietrich Bonhoeffer2005 · 402 pages · confirmed 1/420054021/4
- 3320068821/4
- 3420075241/4
- 35God is in the Manger2010 · 98 pages · confirmed 1/42010981/4
- 36The Collected Sermons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer2012 · confirmed 1/42012–1/4
- 37God Is on the Cross2012 · confirmed 1/42012–1/4
- 3820126121/4
- 39Bonhoeffer Reader2013 · 860 pages · confirmed 1/420138601/4
- 40Wonder of Wonders2014 · confirmed 1/42014–1/4
- 4120146221/4
Dietrich Bonhoeffer series in order
The series linked below has its own reading-order page.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Standalone books
24 books24 Dietrich Bonhoeffer titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Dietrich Bonhoeffer books in order?
You only need to read Dietrich Bonhoeffer books in order within the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works series, which holds 17 of the 41 Dietrich Bonhoeffer books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.
Where to start with Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Start with Sanctorum Communio (1930), the first Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works book. It is also the earliest catalogued title.
What is the newest Dietrich Bonhoeffer book?
Indexes and Supplementary Materials (2014) is the newest Dietrich Bonhoeffer book released so far.
Is there a new Dietrich Bonhoeffer book coming?
No next Dietrich Bonhoeffer book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer at a glance
- Died
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer died in 1945, according to Wikidata.
- After death
- Books credited to Dietrich Bonhoeffer are still being published after Dietrich Bonhoeffer's death in 1945; the newest appeared in 2014.
- Release pace
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
- Length
- 13,272 pages across the 34 of 41 books with a recorded length, a median of 302 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Dietrich Bonhoeffer books, 7 of 41, were published in the 2010s.
What the Dietrich Bonhoeffer books are about
40 of the 41 Dietrich Bonhoeffer books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: theology is tagged on 14 of 40. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Theology 14 of 40 books
- Bonhoeffer, dietrich, 1906-1945 10 of 40 books
- Correspondence 10 of 40 books
- Lutheran Church 9 of 40 books
- Theologians 9 of 40 books
- German Sermons 8 of 40 books
- History 6 of 40 books
- Meditations 6 of 40 books
- Sermons 6 of 40 books
- Bible 4 of 40 books
- Imprisonment 4 of 40 books
- Sources 4 of 40 books