Then They Will Come for Us

Then They Came For Me: Martin Niemöller, The Pastor Who Defied the Nazis
by Matthew D. Hockenos

reviewed by J. Daryl Charles

Then They Came for Me is a simultaneously difficult and utterly fascinating book to review. A biography of one of the most captivating figures of the twentieth century, it poses difficulties for the reviewer because its subject was an exceedingly complex individual—one who went through seismic transformations in the way he viewed his native culture, political authority, religious belief, and the use of coercive force. But fascinating as well, for all of the same reasons.

What makes this volume significant is that the author brings us the first English-language biography of Niemöller in a . . .

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J. Daryl Charles serves as the Acton Institute Affiliated Scholar in Theology & Ethics. He is author, co-author or editor of seventeen books, including: Wisdom’s Works: Essays on Ethics, Vocation, and Cultural Engagement (Acton Institute, forthcoming), America and the Just War Tradition: A History of U.S. Conflicts (Univ. of Notre Dame Press, 2019), Natural Law and Religious Freedom (Routledge, 2018), and The Just War Tradition: An Introduction (ISI Books, 2012). He is a contributing editor to Touchstone.

more on history from the online archives

15.6—July/August 2002

Things Hidden Since the Beginning of the World

The Shape of Divine Providence & Human History by James Hitchcock

14.6—July/August 2001

The Transformed Relics of the Fall

on the Fulfillment of History in Christ by Patrick Henry Reardon

31.1—January/February 2018

Vikings Under the Son

on Ragnarök, an Extreme Weather Event & the Paths to Conversion by Timothy J. Burbery

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