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.

Source: Wikidata

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 November 2026.

  1. 1
    Sanctorum CommunioDietrich Bonhoeffer Works #11930 · 372 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1930372
  2. 2
    Act and BeingDietrich Bonhoeffer Works #21930 · 237 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1930237
  3. 3
    The Cost of Discipleship1937 · 316 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1937316
  4. 4
    Creation and FallDietrich Bonhoeffer Works #31937 · 144 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1937144
  5. 5
    DiscipleshipDietrich Bonhoeffer Works #41937 · 402 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1937402
  6. 6
    Life Together and Prayerbook of the BibleDietrich Bonhoeffer Works #51939 · confirmed 1/4
    1939–
  7. 7
    EthicsDietrich Bonhoeffer Works #61949 · 593 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1949593
  8. 8
    Fiction from Tegel PrisonDietrich Bonhoeffer Works #71950 · 287 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1950287
  9. 9
    Letters and Papers from PrisonDietrich Bonhoeffer Works #81951 · 254 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1951254
  10. 10
    The Young Bonhoeffer, 1918–1927Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works #91952 · 695 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1952695
  11. 11
    Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible1959 · 86 pages · confirmed 1/4
    195986
  12. 12
    Christ the Center1960 · 125 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1960125
  13. 13
    I Loved This People1966 · confirmed 1/4
    1966–
  14. 14
    No Rusty Swords1970 · confirmed 1/4
    1970–
  15. 15
    The Way to Freedom1971 · 272 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1971272
  16. 16
    Letters to London1972 · confirmed 1/4
    1972–
  17. 17
    True Patriotism1973 · 256 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1973256
  18. 18
    Prayers From Prison1978 · 94 pages · confirmed 1/4
    197894
  19. 19
    Meditating on the Word1985 · 136 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1985136
  20. 20
    Spiritual Care1985 · 93 pages · confirmed 1/4
    198593
  21. 21
    A Testament To Freedom1990 · 565 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1990565
  22. 22
    Theological Education at Finkenwalde, 1935-1937Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works #101996 · 1258 pages · confirmed 1/4
    19961258
  23. 23
    Berlin: 1932–1933.Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works #111997 · 650 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1997650
  24. 24
    The Mystery of Easter1998 · 48 pages · confirmed 1/4
    199848
  25. 25
    Meditations on the Cross1998 · 94 pages · confirmed 1/4
    199894
  26. 26
    Theological Education Underground: 1937-40Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works #121998 · 726 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1998726
  27. 27
    Voices in the Night1999 · 128 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1999128
  28. 28
    Barcelona, Berlin, New York: 1928–1931Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works #132003 · 764 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2003764
  29. 29
    Prison Poems2005 · 126 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2005126
  30. 30
    I Want to Live These Days with You2005 · 394 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2005394

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.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works in order

17 books
  1. 1. Sanctorum Communio
  2. 2. Act and Being
  3. 3. Creation and Fall
  4. 4. Discipleship
  5. 5. Life Together and Prayerbook of the Bible
  6. 6. Ethics
  7. 7. Fiction from Tegel Prison
  8. 8. Letters and Papers from Prison
  9. 9. The Young Bonhoeffer, 1918–1927
  10. 10. Theological Education at Finkenwalde, 1935-1937
  11. 11. Berlin: 1932–1933.
  12. 12. Theological Education Underground: 1937-40
  13. and 5 more in the table above

Standalone books

24 books

24 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 earliest published 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.

When Dietrich Bonhoeffer books were published

Publication distribution by decade, showing when Dietrich Bonhoeffer titles appeared. 1990s was the most productive decade with 7 titles.

1930s
6
1940s
1
1950s
4
1960s
2
1970s
5
1980s
2
1990s
7
2000s
7
2010s
7

41 books total across 9 decades. Decade reflects the year each title was first catalogued.

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