Matthews, John W. 1949-

PERSONAL:

Born November 19, 1949, in Muskegon, MI; son of Walter F. (a chemist) and Beatrice M. (a bookkeeper) Matthews; married; wife's name Charlotte L. (died January 30, 1991); married Patty K. Amundson (in sales and marketing), February 4, 1995; children: Sari Flatness, Bryan Bye, Maren Okrzynski, Jodee Iten, Kayla Bye. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Concordia College, B.A.; Luther Seminary, M.Div., M.Th. Religion: Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Apple Valley, MN. Office—Grace Lutheran Church, 7800 W. County Road 2, Apple Valley, MN 55124. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Grace Lutheran Church, Apple Valley, MN, senior pastor, 2003—. Augsburg College, Minneapolis, MN, adjunct instructor in religion, 2004—. City of Burnsville, MN, police chaplain. Military service: U.S. Army Reserve, chaplain, 1987-91.

MEMBER:

International Bonhoeffer Society (president of English language section), Scholars Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches.

WRITINGS:

Anxious Souls Will Ask …: The Christ-Centered Spirituality of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, William B. Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 2005.

Contributor to periodicals, including Word and World, Dialog, and Lutheran.

SIDELIGHTS:

John W. Matthews told CA: "Anxious Souls Will Ask …: The Christ-Centered Spirituality of Dietrich Bonhoeffer was written to offer clergy and laity a glimpse of the profound theological insights of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was martyred by the Nazis in 1945 for his complicity in the plot of July 20, 1944, to assassinate Hitler. From prison in 1944, Bonhoeffer reflected—and then wrote—about authentic Christian faith in a world that was becoming less and less religious. My small book (only one hundred pages) was written to inspire people to delve further into Bonhoeffer's works and life witness.

"My own engagement with Bonhoeffer's theology has led me into a sustained study of the Holocaust (and the failure of churches to respond significantly) and further into what transpired in the first few centuries after the death of Jesus, occasioning the tragic split between church and synagogue. My study continues."