Rev Dr John McCabe

He completed his MA at Trinity College/Bristol University in 2001, having graduated from St Edmund Hall in Modern Languages in 1982 (French and German).

John’s academic work is enriched by his previous professional experience gained internationally prior to ordination in sales, marketing, general management and management consultancy roles. Alongside a full-time parish role, he has spent seven years working on historical and biographical details surrounding the last nine days of the life of German Resistance theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer in April 1945, in the context of the latter stages of the war in Europe.

John completed his Ph.D. at Chester University in 2015. His doctoral dissertation, entitled Bonhoeffer: Responsible Work – A diachronic approach to a synchronic theme: Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theology of work, was supervised by Dr Stephen Plant (Trinity Hall, Cambridge) and Professor Tom Greggs (Aberdeen). He was awarded funding from the International Bonhoeffer Society for research on Dietrich Bonhoeffer The Last Eight Days, published by Baylor University Press in November 2024, and Acht Tage im April – Dietrich Bonhoeffers letzter Weg nach Flossenbürg, published in May by Penguin Random House/Gütersloher Verlagshaus.

In Spring 2025 John taught the Christian Doctrine module at Roehampton University in their Practical Theology (DTh) Programme.

He is married to Pippa and they live in Surrey. They have two children and three grandchildren. Both enjoy hiking and gardening.

 

Current research:

• Connecting Bonhoeffer with discipleship in the everyday
• National Socialist Germany under Hitler 1933-1945
• Espionage in Switzerland in World War II
• ‘Work’ as a person of faith.

 

Key publications:

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer – The Last Eight Days. Baylor University Press, October 2024. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0040571X251334750e
• Acht Tage im April – Dietrich Bonhoeffers letzter Weg nach Flossenbürg. Penguin Random House/Gütersloher Verlagshaus, May 2025.

 

Book reviews (published in Theology):

• Kevin O’Farrell – Dietrich Bonhoeffer – A Theology of the Exception (London: T&T Clark, 2024)
• John de Gruchy, Bonhoeffer’s Questions: A life-changing Conversation (London: Fortress, 2019)
• John Hughes, The End of Work: Theological Critiques of Capitalism (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Berlin: 1932-1933 (Works, Volume 12 – English Edition, 2014)
• Charles Marsh, Strange Glory – A life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (New York: Knopf, 2014).

 

Reviews in progress:

• Robert Vosloo, Teddy Sakupapa, Ashwin Thyssen and Karol Radler – Bonhoeffer and the Responsibility for a Coming Generation
• Tim Judson – Awake in Gethsemane – Bonhoeffer and the Witness of Christian lament.