This Mortal Life Also

A Full-length Play

In 1939 Germany, Dietrich Bonhoeffer is stripped of his life in the church and in academia due to his refusal to bow to the National Socialists. As his world crumbles around him, he battles for the soul of his country and becomes a double agent in conspiracy against Hitler, appearing to have acquiesced to everything he has stood against.  Based on the true story of pastor and scholar Dietrich Bonhoeffer, This Mortal Life Also is a deeply touching play filled with love, heartbreak, and humor as Bonhoeffer explores how to lead a sanctified life in a corrupted world.

This Mortal Life Also presents Bonhoeffer in the context of his family: his twin sister Sabine, and his sister and brother-in-law Christel and Hans. Into that close family relationship enter a church official flirting with Nazism, the English Bishop of Chichester, and a vivacious family friend.

This Mortal Life Also is a full-length play (Runtime: 2 hours with intermission) with seven characters: four men and three women.

Production Instagram: @this_mortal_life_also

More about Dietrich Bonhoeffer

This Mortal Life Also is based on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the 20^th century’s most influential theologians and writers. There is so much more to Bonhoeffer than can be represented by a 2 hour play.

The Bonhoeffer family was large. By the start of WWII Dietrich had two brothers (living) and four sisters, all of whom were married. His parents were the renowned psychiatrist and neurologist Karl Bonhoeffer and daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II’s court chaplain, Paula von Hase Bonhoeffer. The entire Bonhoeffer family was united in their opposition to Adolf Hitler and they paid the price. For their role in conspiring against Hitler,  Dietrich, another Bonhoeffer son (Klaus), and two sons-in-law (Hans von Dohnanyi and Rudiger Schleicher) were murdered by the Nazis in the waning days of the war.

If you are interested in learning more about this remarkable man, you will find my favorite resources (affiliate links) listed below:

By Dietrich Bonhoeffer

There are many editions available of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s writings. One of the most accessible and recent is the 17-volume Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works. This is the magisterial and definitive collection of Bonhoeffer’s letters, papers, sermons, and books. Bonhoeffer’s most well known books are stand-alone volumes.  Edited by Victoria J. Barnett. Fortress Press.

• Sanctorum Communio (Volume 1)
• Act and Being (Volume 2)
• Creation and Fall (Volume 3)
• Discipleship (Volume 4)
• Life Together and Prayerbook of the Bible (Volume 5)
• Ethics (Volume 6)
• Fiction from Tegel Prison (Volume 7)
• Letters and Papers from Prison (Volume 8)
• The Young Bonhoeffer 1918-1927 (Volume 9)
• Barcelona, Berlin, New York: 1928-1931 (Volume 10)
• Ecumenical, Academic, and Pastoral Work: 1931-1932 (Volume 11)
• Berlin: 1932-1933 (Volume 12)
• London: 1933-1935 (Volume 13)
• Theological Education at Finkenwalde: 1935-1937 (Volume 14)
• Theological Education Underground: 1937-1940 (Volume 15)
• Conspiracy and Imprisonment: 1940-1945 (Volume 16)
• Indexes and Supplementary Materials (Volume 17)

Books by Bonhoeffer of Special Note

• The Collected Sermons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Isabel Best, editor) Amazon
• Discipleship (formerly published in the U.S. as The Cost of Discipleship) Amazon
• Ethics Amazon
• Life Together Amazon

Books about Dietrich Bonhoeffer

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Biography by Eberhard Bethge. Fortress Press, Revised edition, 2000. Amazon
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1906-1945: Martyr, Thinker, Man of Resistance by Ferdinand Schlingensiepen. T&T Clark, 2010. Amazon
• Keys to Bonhoeffer’s Haus: Exploring the World and Wisdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Laura M. Fabrycky. Fortress Press, 2020. Amazon
• No Ordinary Men: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Hans von Dohnanyi, Resisters Against Hitler in Church and State by Elizabeth Sifton and Fritz Stern. The New York Review of Books, 2013. Amazon

Additional Resources About Dietrich Bonhoeffer

• International Bonhoeffer Society – English Language Section at https://www.thebonhoeffercenter.org
• The Bonhoeffer Podcast hosted by Corey Tuttle at www.facebook.com/bonhoefferpod
• Front Porch Book Club Episodes relating to Dietrich Bonhoeffer: https://frontporchbookclub.com

Front Porch Book Club episodes relating to Dietrich Bonhoeffer

This Mortal Life Also, a play by Nancy Shank. Directed by Timothy W. Scholl

Episode 26 Linda interviews co-host Nancy, along with Timothy W. Scholl about the writing and production of This Mortal Life Also, a play about Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

No Ordinary Men: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Hans von Dohnanyi by Elizabeth Sifton and Fritz Stern

Episode 25 Linny and Nancy dig into this biography of the courageous actions of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Hans von Dohnanyi in the German Resistance to Nazism.

Keys to Bonhoeffer’s Haus: Exploring the World and Wisdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Laura Fabrycky

 Episode 16 Looking for a dose of moral clarity? In this episode, Laura Fabrycky joins us on the front porch to talk about her experience as a guide in Berlin’s Bonhoeffer’s Haus during the tumultuous years following the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Laura invites us to consider how Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life serves as a model for moral decision-making and ethical thinking.

Episode 15 Linda and Nancy discuss Keys to Bonhoeffer’s Haus. This historically-grounded memoir by Laura Fabrycky takes readers on an unforgettable journey as the author steeps herself in the life of German theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, mapping a course for herself as a guide in his Berlin home and as an American diplomatic spouse finding her way through politically turbulent times.