Faith Facing Reality

“John de Gruchy’s lifelong immersion in South Africa’s struggle for a just society has been deeply formed by his engagement with the life and thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In these reflections he helps us see how Christian faith demands a risky wrestling with the realities of this world—whether its science and technology, its twisted histories of oppression and liberation, or our own ambiguous responses to the mysteries of death, love, and transcendence.”


—William Johnson Everett, Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School





“From local to global level, our age is beset by formidable challenges for humanity’s future. With Bonhoeffer as major interlocuter, de Gruchy presents a wide-ranging and rigorous argument that Christian faith can and must engage creatively with these uncomfortable realities. Soaked in his experience as a South African theologian but with a vision reaching beyond familiar national and religious boundaries, this is an unflinchingly honest book that opens our eyes to both crisis and hope.”


—Keith Clements, former general secretary, Conference of European Churches





“John de Gruchy writes like Bonhoeffer himself. Reflection on their own social and political contexts, and shared sufferings, analyzed through the prism of Christian theology. Just as Bonhoeffer did, so de Gruchy shows that theological reflection offers a distinctive lens on the world’s problems. A book for anytime but especially for our times.”


—Terence Lovat, University of Newcastle, Australia





“Faith Facing Reality will challenge its readers anew not to settle for lazy thinking and cheap consolations in light of our contemporary realities. As it stirs up discussion in dialogue with Bonhoeffer on the persistence of colonialism, racism, imperialism, anti-Semitism, oppression, and other threats to our common life, this book combines moral outrage with theological wisdom to stir, above all else, our imaginations towards justice and hope. This is vintage De Gruchy!”


—Robert Vosloo, Stellenbosch University