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The Cost of Discipleship
One of the most important theologians of the twentieth century illuminates the relationship between ourselves and the teachings of Jesus in this classic text on ethics, humanism, and civic duty.
What can the call to discipleship, the adherence to the word of Jesus, mean today to the businessman, the soldier, the laborer, or the aristocrat? What did Jesus mean to say to us? What is his will for us today? Drawing on the Sermon on the Mount, Dietrich Bonhoeffer answers these timeless questions by providing a seminal reading of the dichotomy between "cheap grace" and "costly grace." "Cheap grace," Bonhoeffer wrote, "is the grace we bestow on ourselves...grace without discipleship....Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the girl which must be asked for, the door at which a man must know....It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."
The Cost of Discipleship is a compelling statement of the demands of sacrifice and ethical consistency from a man whose life and thought were exemplary articulations of a new type of leadership inspired by the Gospel, and imbued with the spirit of Christian humanism and a creative sense of civic duty.
What can the call to discipleship, the adherence to the word of Jesus, mean today to the businessman, the soldier, the laborer, or the aristocrat? What did Jesus mean to say to us? What is his will for us today? Drawing on the Sermon on the Mount, Dietrich Bonhoeffer answers these timeless questions by providing a seminal reading of the dichotomy between "cheap grace" and "costly grace." "Cheap grace," Bonhoeffer wrote, "is the grace we bestow on ourselves...grace without discipleship....Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the girl which must be asked for, the door at which a man must know....It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."
The Cost of Discipleship is a compelling statement of the demands of sacrifice and ethical consistency from a man whose life and thought were exemplary articulations of a new type of leadership inspired by the Gospel, and imbued with the spirit of Christian humanism and a creative sense of civic duty.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1937
About the author
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
319 books1,635 followersDietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian. He was also a participant in the German Resistance movement against Nazism, a founding member of the Confessing Church. His involvement in plans by members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office) to assassinate Adolf Hitler resulted in his arrest in April 1943 and his subsequent execution by hanging in April 1945, shortly before the war's end. His view of Christianity's role in the secular world has become very influential.
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February 23, 2021
Note, Feb. 23, 2021: I've just edited this to correct one typo.
Although I had a vague memory, when the Christian Goodreaders group chose this book as a common read, of having read some of Bonhoeffer's writings back in my early 20s, I now believe that what I read back then was his Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community (which I'm currently rereading). I had no recollection, over my recent days of reading, of having read any of the text previously. If I had read it even back then, I think it would have made more of an impression on me; but I also think I would have been too immature in my Christian experience at that time to fully appreciate and engage with it. That isn't to say that my ability to do so now is perfect either, but I have the advantage of over forty years of added growth and perspective. Also, I have the added benefit of having read Eric Metaxas' biography of Bonhoeffer, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy a year ago, which got five stars from me (my review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ), and which considerably enhanced both my understanding of Bonhoeffer's thought and my admiration for him as a person.
Bonhoeffer has to be ranked as one of the top theological thinkers, in the classical Christian tradition, of the 20th century, and probably of any century. His objective here, however, is not an abstract summation of Christian doctrine, but a practical exposition of how Christian doctrine bids Christ's disciples to live in the concrete reality of a world that's very hostile to Christianity. While his concern is practical, however, it has to be said that (unlike C. S. Lewis, a thinker to whom I'd accord similar stature) he's not writing to make his thought accessible to the average layperson. This is very much, not only serious theology, but academic theology informed by his background in graduate theological study and in higher education teaching. Indeed, the material here is based directly on his lectures teaching in the Confessing Church's underground seminary (the experience which in turn is the basis for Life Together, so the two books have an organic relationship). Reading it was heavy sledding intellectually for me (and I have a seminary degree) because of the complexity of the thought. Another challenge derives from the fact that it was originally written in German; Bonhoeffer had studied in the U.S. and could speak English, but he once said that he could express himself theologically much better in German. If rendering his thoughts into English was hard for him, one can guess that it sometimes poses difficulty for translators, too. (I read this in the Macmillan reprint of the 1959 2nd ed. of the Student Christian Movement's translation by R. H. Fuller with "some revision" by Irmgard Booth, which was the first edition to translate the whole work.)
The book has four principal parts; the first is a basic discussion of the relationship of Christian living to salvation by grace through faith, in the context of Bonhoeffer's Lutheran background. (I was raised as a Lutheran, so could relate to this.) As it developed historically, the Lutheran tradition in practice stressed the role of God's unearned grace in salvation to the point that it made any kind of actual Christian living in obedience to God's commands into an optional afterthought at best, and at worst even viewed it as a hindrance to "faith," since the supposed essence of faith was treated as believing that you could now do anything you wanted to and still be saved by "grace" (an attitude Bonhoeffer characterizes as "cheap grace"). My eventual disgust with this attitude as a teen, if fact, was a major reason for my leaving the Lutheran church. Bonhoeffer remained a Lutheran, but regarded this kind of "cheap grace" as a perversion of Luther's thought. A life of radical obedience to God (discipleship) is in fact the object of God's call to humans in salvation, and is enabled by the same free grace that enables conversion and salvation itself; it does not "earn" salvation nor accord merit to the disciples, but is nonetheless inseparable from salvation.
In the second and third parts, Bonhoeffer works through the Sermon on the Mount and the sending out of the twelve disciples as messengers of the Kingdom of God in the Gospel of Matthew, dealing with the Biblical text in expository fashion (and often with significant interpretive insights) as a source of principles or blueprint for what characteristics Christian discipleship needs to embody in the modern context --or, indeed, in any cultural context. His Bible-based understanding of the Christian church as very literally the Body of Christ, the earthly continuation of Christ's saving and serving incarnation in the world, by virtue of our real and dynamic union with him as believers, joined to both his redemptive death and his resurrected new life, is the focus of the final part.
My appreciation for Bonhoeffer's thought isn't without specific disagreements. In particular, he espouses a strong "vocational pacifist" ethic (that is, waging war and administering forcible justice is okay for the State and its agents, but the Christian isn't allowed to take part in it because of our supposedly different calling), based principally on literal interpretations of language used by Jesus in places in the Sermon on the Mount that I would consider hyperbolic in context, and as qualified by other Scriptures. A detailed discussion of the case for and against Christian vocational pacifism isn't appropriate here, but I think the position is flawed and logically contradictory. It's also not a position that Bonhoeffer himself ultimately stuck with, since he eventually came to believe that his Christian moral duty in obedience to God required him to assist in the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. (Some of his pacifist admirers today refuse to acknowledge this, but the evidence is overwhelming.) I also disagree with his Lutheran sacramental theology, which embraces infant baptism as an actual producer of saving (albeit invisible!) "faith." IMO, believer's baptism would be more consistent with his view of radical discipleship (and with the New Testament's view of baptism). But those disagreements don't, for me, diminish the overall value of this book. Even when you disagree with Bonhoeffer, he's intellectually (and spiritually) stimulating.
This edition has a very short Foreword by Anglican Bishop G. K. A. Bell, who knew Bonhoeffer personally, and a roughly 24-page biographical memoir by Bonhoeffer's brother-in-law, Gerhard Leibholz, which also reproduces, in English translation, a couple of Bonhoeffer's poems written in prison. In summation, I don't think this book would appeal to non-Christian readers; throughout, it presupposes a Christian faith commitment, and can't really be appreciated without that. But I would highly recommend it for all college-educated Christians who can handle the reading level.
Although I had a vague memory, when the Christian Goodreaders group chose this book as a common read, of having read some of Bonhoeffer's writings back in my early 20s, I now believe that what I read back then was his Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community (which I'm currently rereading). I had no recollection, over my recent days of reading, of having read any of the text previously. If I had read it even back then, I think it would have made more of an impression on me; but I also think I would have been too immature in my Christian experience at that time to fully appreciate and engage with it. That isn't to say that my ability to do so now is perfect either, but I have the advantage of over forty years of added growth and perspective. Also, I have the added benefit of having read Eric Metaxas' biography of Bonhoeffer, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy a year ago, which got five stars from me (my review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ), and which considerably enhanced both my understanding of Bonhoeffer's thought and my admiration for him as a person.
Bonhoeffer has to be ranked as one of the top theological thinkers, in the classical Christian tradition, of the 20th century, and probably of any century. His objective here, however, is not an abstract summation of Christian doctrine, but a practical exposition of how Christian doctrine bids Christ's disciples to live in the concrete reality of a world that's very hostile to Christianity. While his concern is practical, however, it has to be said that (unlike C. S. Lewis, a thinker to whom I'd accord similar stature) he's not writing to make his thought accessible to the average layperson. This is very much, not only serious theology, but academic theology informed by his background in graduate theological study and in higher education teaching. Indeed, the material here is based directly on his lectures teaching in the Confessing Church's underground seminary (the experience which in turn is the basis for Life Together, so the two books have an organic relationship). Reading it was heavy sledding intellectually for me (and I have a seminary degree) because of the complexity of the thought. Another challenge derives from the fact that it was originally written in German; Bonhoeffer had studied in the U.S. and could speak English, but he once said that he could express himself theologically much better in German. If rendering his thoughts into English was hard for him, one can guess that it sometimes poses difficulty for translators, too. (I read this in the Macmillan reprint of the 1959 2nd ed. of the Student Christian Movement's translation by R. H. Fuller with "some revision" by Irmgard Booth, which was the first edition to translate the whole work.)
The book has four principal parts; the first is a basic discussion of the relationship of Christian living to salvation by grace through faith, in the context of Bonhoeffer's Lutheran background. (I was raised as a Lutheran, so could relate to this.) As it developed historically, the Lutheran tradition in practice stressed the role of God's unearned grace in salvation to the point that it made any kind of actual Christian living in obedience to God's commands into an optional afterthought at best, and at worst even viewed it as a hindrance to "faith," since the supposed essence of faith was treated as believing that you could now do anything you wanted to and still be saved by "grace" (an attitude Bonhoeffer characterizes as "cheap grace"). My eventual disgust with this attitude as a teen, if fact, was a major reason for my leaving the Lutheran church. Bonhoeffer remained a Lutheran, but regarded this kind of "cheap grace" as a perversion of Luther's thought. A life of radical obedience to God (discipleship) is in fact the object of God's call to humans in salvation, and is enabled by the same free grace that enables conversion and salvation itself; it does not "earn" salvation nor accord merit to the disciples, but is nonetheless inseparable from salvation.
In the second and third parts, Bonhoeffer works through the Sermon on the Mount and the sending out of the twelve disciples as messengers of the Kingdom of God in the Gospel of Matthew, dealing with the Biblical text in expository fashion (and often with significant interpretive insights) as a source of principles or blueprint for what characteristics Christian discipleship needs to embody in the modern context --or, indeed, in any cultural context. His Bible-based understanding of the Christian church as very literally the Body of Christ, the earthly continuation of Christ's saving and serving incarnation in the world, by virtue of our real and dynamic union with him as believers, joined to both his redemptive death and his resurrected new life, is the focus of the final part.
My appreciation for Bonhoeffer's thought isn't without specific disagreements. In particular, he espouses a strong "vocational pacifist" ethic (that is, waging war and administering forcible justice is okay for the State and its agents, but the Christian isn't allowed to take part in it because of our supposedly different calling), based principally on literal interpretations of language used by Jesus in places in the Sermon on the Mount that I would consider hyperbolic in context, and as qualified by other Scriptures. A detailed discussion of the case for and against Christian vocational pacifism isn't appropriate here, but I think the position is flawed and logically contradictory. It's also not a position that Bonhoeffer himself ultimately stuck with, since he eventually came to believe that his Christian moral duty in obedience to God required him to assist in the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. (Some of his pacifist admirers today refuse to acknowledge this, but the evidence is overwhelming.) I also disagree with his Lutheran sacramental theology, which embraces infant baptism as an actual producer of saving (albeit invisible!) "faith." IMO, believer's baptism would be more consistent with his view of radical discipleship (and with the New Testament's view of baptism). But those disagreements don't, for me, diminish the overall value of this book. Even when you disagree with Bonhoeffer, he's intellectually (and spiritually) stimulating.
This edition has a very short Foreword by Anglican Bishop G. K. A. Bell, who knew Bonhoeffer personally, and a roughly 24-page biographical memoir by Bonhoeffer's brother-in-law, Gerhard Leibholz, which also reproduces, in English translation, a couple of Bonhoeffer's poems written in prison. In summation, I don't think this book would appeal to non-Christian readers; throughout, it presupposes a Christian faith commitment, and can't really be appreciated without that. But I would highly recommend it for all college-educated Christians who can handle the reading level.
December 30, 2009
Where does one begin?
This is a book that will profoundly change your understanding about what it means to be a person of faith in the world. Bonhoeffer challenges us to look beyond the values of this world, and asks us are we willing to embrace the true cost of discipleship? His analysis of cheap grace, and its corrupting influence reminds us that there are times that we have to challenge the powers of this world, that there are times when to be a good Christian means we can't always be a good citizen.
Bonhoeffer wrote in the shadow of evil, made even worse by the reality that many so-called Christians were only too willing to serve Adolf Hitler and his evil regime. Bonhoeffer makes it clear to the reader that cheap grace is at the heart of such fatal compromises of faith, that allow evil to flourish. It is through understanding costly grace, that we can embrace discipleship that will allow us to witness to this world in such a way that we are freed from the powers of this world.
Bonhoeffer's words are just as important today, as they were in the dark days of the Nazis, and will always challenge us in our faith.
This is a book that will profoundly change your understanding about what it means to be a person of faith in the world. Bonhoeffer challenges us to look beyond the values of this world, and asks us are we willing to embrace the true cost of discipleship? His analysis of cheap grace, and its corrupting influence reminds us that there are times that we have to challenge the powers of this world, that there are times when to be a good Christian means we can't always be a good citizen.
Bonhoeffer wrote in the shadow of evil, made even worse by the reality that many so-called Christians were only too willing to serve Adolf Hitler and his evil regime. Bonhoeffer makes it clear to the reader that cheap grace is at the heart of such fatal compromises of faith, that allow evil to flourish. It is through understanding costly grace, that we can embrace discipleship that will allow us to witness to this world in such a way that we are freed from the powers of this world.
Bonhoeffer's words are just as important today, as they were in the dark days of the Nazis, and will always challenge us in our faith.
May 18, 2011
Listened to the audio version of this book and found it very compelling. It challenged me in ways I didn't know I needed challenging, which is why it earns 5 stars from me. As a lifelong cultural Catholic and for the last twenty years (or so) actively striving-to-be-Christlike Catholic, I need books which help me to look at my faith from a fresh perspective.
Bonhoeffer's eclectic approach to the Gospels reminds me very much of his German compatriot and one of my other favorite authors, Pope Benedict XVI. The fact that they are both devout German Christians couldn't have anything to do with that ... could it?
Especially insightful in this text are Bonhoeffer's contrast between cheap and costly Grace; his exegesis on the encounters between Jesus and the Rich Young Man and others; and his challenges to our understanding of our own discipleship.
Highly recommended, especially in the audio format! I was reluctant to do anything else once I started listening.
Bonhoeffer's eclectic approach to the Gospels reminds me very much of his German compatriot and one of my other favorite authors, Pope Benedict XVI. The fact that they are both devout German Christians couldn't have anything to do with that ... could it?
Especially insightful in this text are Bonhoeffer's contrast between cheap and costly Grace; his exegesis on the encounters between Jesus and the Rich Young Man and others; and his challenges to our understanding of our own discipleship.
Highly recommended, especially in the audio format! I was reluctant to do anything else once I started listening.
October 5, 2024
2024 Review
I challenged myself in 2024 to re-read the books that impacted me most in my 20s.
This is a really convicting look at the meaning of grace and the meaning of the Sermon of the Mount. It made for a surprisingly good audiobook
2019 Review
It took me about two years to read this one. I would pick it up, pause to meditate on a profound line, misplace the book, find it weeks later, read a little more, pause to mediate, lose it again...
I'm not used to reading books I cannot zip through. But this one seriously challenged me. I couldn't rush through it. I needed to stop and think about what it actually meant.
Words to describe it: Profound. Thought-provoking. Challenging. Encouraging. Motivating.
I forgot how much I missed doctrine. It was like a breath of fresh air.
The downside of taking such a long time to read it is that I'm not sure I can pin-point what all impacted me or which quotes I liked best. It did it gradually and I fell in love with them all.
I guess this just means I need to read it again!
I challenged myself in 2024 to re-read the books that impacted me most in my 20s.
This is a really convicting look at the meaning of grace and the meaning of the Sermon of the Mount. It made for a surprisingly good audiobook
2019 Review
It took me about two years to read this one. I would pick it up, pause to meditate on a profound line, misplace the book, find it weeks later, read a little more, pause to mediate, lose it again...
I'm not used to reading books I cannot zip through. But this one seriously challenged me. I couldn't rush through it. I needed to stop and think about what it actually meant.
Words to describe it: Profound. Thought-provoking. Challenging. Encouraging. Motivating.
I forgot how much I missed doctrine. It was like a breath of fresh air.
The downside of taking such a long time to read it is that I'm not sure I can pin-point what all impacted me or which quotes I liked best. It did it gradually and I fell in love with them all.
I guess this just means I need to read it again!
July 28, 2009
This book will mess you up, and you will be better for it - at least it should. Bonhoeffer combats what he coins "cheap grace" (i.e., grace with no demand, no cost, no cross). He demonstrates that the life of discipleship is the life of crucifixion. But this is not from some pussified metrosexual pastor, wearing his tight button-down, throwing around terms like "imitatio christi." No, this is from a man who did it, who faithfully followed and bore witness to Christ until the end when he was hung naked with thin wire.
....
I just read this quote from the camp doctor who witnessed his death: “I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer ... kneeling on the floor praying fervently to God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the few steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.”
....
I just read this quote from the camp doctor who witnessed his death: “I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer ... kneeling on the floor praying fervently to God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the few steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.”
November 5, 2020
Well, I finished.
It took me a long time, and I essentially have no idea what I just read, but I finished. How can I find the biography of Bonhoeffer so much more meaningful than the primary documents he wrote? Probably because I couldn't understand them.
I definitely overestimated myself with this book. If it follows other patterns of my life, if I leave it alone and let it percolate for another decade or two and come back to it, I might possible understand it the next time.
The only thing I really got out of this book was his insistence that the fruit of the Spirit is something that happens to believers unconsciously. It's a bit long, but this quote sums it up pretty well: "From this it follows that we can never be conscious of our good works. Our sanctification is veiled from our eyes until the last day, when all secrets will be disclosed. If we want to see some results here and assess our own spiritual state, and have not the patience to wait, we have our reward. The moment we begin to feel satisfied that we are making some progress along the road of sanctification, it is all the more necessary to repent and confess that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags."
I think that in some ways he is quite right. I have noticed in my own life that when I start to notice 'Hey, I'm doing better at this area in my life. Go me.' That hubris inevitably precedes a drastic failure and backsliding period. On the other hand, when someone else notices and says 'Hey you are doing better in this area in your life.' I'm like: 'Really? I don't think so. I hadn't noticed.' Obviously the behavior must have changed dramatically if someone else is noticing it, but those are usually the areas where the inner being is the foundation of the struggle and that inner carnality doesn't seem to ever lose its power.
It took me a long time, and I essentially have no idea what I just read, but I finished. How can I find the biography of Bonhoeffer so much more meaningful than the primary documents he wrote? Probably because I couldn't understand them.
I definitely overestimated myself with this book. If it follows other patterns of my life, if I leave it alone and let it percolate for another decade or two and come back to it, I might possible understand it the next time.
The only thing I really got out of this book was his insistence that the fruit of the Spirit is something that happens to believers unconsciously. It's a bit long, but this quote sums it up pretty well: "From this it follows that we can never be conscious of our good works. Our sanctification is veiled from our eyes until the last day, when all secrets will be disclosed. If we want to see some results here and assess our own spiritual state, and have not the patience to wait, we have our reward. The moment we begin to feel satisfied that we are making some progress along the road of sanctification, it is all the more necessary to repent and confess that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags."
I think that in some ways he is quite right. I have noticed in my own life that when I start to notice 'Hey, I'm doing better at this area in my life. Go me.' That hubris inevitably precedes a drastic failure and backsliding period. On the other hand, when someone else notices and says 'Hey you are doing better in this area in your life.' I'm like: 'Really? I don't think so. I hadn't noticed.' Obviously the behavior must have changed dramatically if someone else is noticing it, but those are usually the areas where the inner being is the foundation of the struggle and that inner carnality doesn't seem to ever lose its power.
September 18, 2014
This book is chock full of wisdom and deeply profound insights, but it took me almost two months to get through it simply because its readability is quite low. Perhaps this is because of the translation, or because Mr Bonhoeffer wrote in a different era, but whatever the reason, it's a tough read. Compounding the problem of poor readability is the injection of strong opinions about non-essential Christian beliefs. Writers are entitled to their opinions like everyone else, and I'm entitled to disagree with them and give them a lower rating because of it.
That said, this is a good book with many many pearls of wisdom in it, but for me it was a slog to get through it.
That said, this is a good book with many many pearls of wisdom in it, but for me it was a slog to get through it.
March 16, 2013
I have spent most of my life attending what are generally called the mainline Protestant denominations in the US. I grew up in the United Methodist Church and I'm now a PCUSA Presbyterian. I have heard this book quoted or referenced In sermons and bible studies more times than I can count. But I had never actually read it myself so I decided to as part of a Lenten discipline of reading only books on religion during Lent.
Having now finished, I am surprised at its popularity among liberal Christians. Don't get me wrong, I liked a lot it but the message of this book is that the gospel is true, that it is urgent that it be proclaimed, and that all men need to repent and follow it. This is so very different from the Stuart Smalley like "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me" school of preaching that I hear more Sundays than not. Here's a couple of sentences from Bonhoeffer: "Nothing could be more ruthless than to make men think there is still plenty of time to mend their ways. To tell men that their cause is urgent and that the kingdom of God is at hand is the most charitable and merciful act we can perform, the most joyous news we can bring."
Now maybe your PCUSA or United Methodist (or Episcopal Church or ELCA Lutheran) church is different from mine, but that's not the message I'm hearing every Sunday. (How I wish I did.) So why is Bonhoeffer quoted so often? I think it is mainly that his heroic life and martyrdom while struggling against the Nazis has made his biography more prominent than his theology. And the phrase cheap grace makes a nice sound bite for those who've never really taken the time to read what Bonhoeffer meant by it. And that's a shame because there is much here that we in 21st century America need to hear.
Anyway, I have the book 4 stars. On message and theology, I'd give it 5 but it is pretty thick and not easily readable in parts. How much of that is due to translation issues from the original German and how much is due to it being just a very academic writing styleI don't know. I had the same issue when I read Pope Benedict's book on the life of Christ. Perhaps I just have a problem reading German theologians. I would also note that this probably isn't the best book for a non-Christian or someone who has been away from church a while. It presupposes a pretty good grasp on the bible and basic concepts of theology. CS Lewis' Mere Christianity would be a better introductory kind of book. But if you're looking for a meaty, substantive theological treatise, this is a good one.
Having now finished, I am surprised at its popularity among liberal Christians. Don't get me wrong, I liked a lot it but the message of this book is that the gospel is true, that it is urgent that it be proclaimed, and that all men need to repent and follow it. This is so very different from the Stuart Smalley like "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me" school of preaching that I hear more Sundays than not. Here's a couple of sentences from Bonhoeffer: "Nothing could be more ruthless than to make men think there is still plenty of time to mend their ways. To tell men that their cause is urgent and that the kingdom of God is at hand is the most charitable and merciful act we can perform, the most joyous news we can bring."
Now maybe your PCUSA or United Methodist (or Episcopal Church or ELCA Lutheran) church is different from mine, but that's not the message I'm hearing every Sunday. (How I wish I did.) So why is Bonhoeffer quoted so often? I think it is mainly that his heroic life and martyrdom while struggling against the Nazis has made his biography more prominent than his theology. And the phrase cheap grace makes a nice sound bite for those who've never really taken the time to read what Bonhoeffer meant by it. And that's a shame because there is much here that we in 21st century America need to hear.
Anyway, I have the book 4 stars. On message and theology, I'd give it 5 but it is pretty thick and not easily readable in parts. How much of that is due to translation issues from the original German and how much is due to it being just a very academic writing styleI don't know. I had the same issue when I read Pope Benedict's book on the life of Christ. Perhaps I just have a problem reading German theologians. I would also note that this probably isn't the best book for a non-Christian or someone who has been away from church a while. It presupposes a pretty good grasp on the bible and basic concepts of theology. CS Lewis' Mere Christianity would be a better introductory kind of book. But if you're looking for a meaty, substantive theological treatise, this is a good one.
November 9, 2023
Bonhoeffer lived his faith. He was a strong opposer to the nazi party during WWII and their treatment of the Jewish people. As a result of that opposition, not long after writing this book, he was imprisoned. Then, he was placed in a concentration camp and hung. He wanted the body of Christ to come to fruition and thus sought correction of the body through the church. His writings on discipleship are a little harsh, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It makes the yearning to grow in faith that much stronger. It's important to not get discouraged but to understand that growth doesn't come without that refinement of the spirit. And here we come to this book where Bonhoeffer lays out the cost of faith. He lets the reader know that they're gonna face trial and difficulties, but that is okay. At the end of his short life on this earth, he demonstrated that these were not just empty proclamations he was spouting. But that he believed them deep within his soul. I highly recommend this one to grow your faith. It's gonna be a little rough at first, but by the end, you'll be okay. I don't have much else to say.
There it is and there you have it.
There it is and there you have it.
December 16, 2020
I never read nonfiction, apart from the Bible. I've just never had a taste for it, but my father's been after me to read a variety of different books, commentaries, and devotions for years. I finally gave in about a year ago when he offered me his copy of The Cost of Discipleship.
Bonhoeffer's book has had a reputation for the past 83 years as being one of the greatest guidebooks to Christian life ever written, and rightfully so. Not only does Bonhoeffer explore the meaning of Jesus' words, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Matt. 16.24b KJV), he also examines the Sermon on the Mount, the legalistic and cheapened walk of most Christians in his day and in ours, and the where we as the Church (Body of Christi) have failed in fulfilling our destiny to become true disciples.
It took me a year to read this book. Coming from the girl who reads 400+ page novels in three hours, that is not a good time. But TCOD deserves a lot of time, prayer, and consideration. The simplistic (if not theological to the point of confusing the average layman) way in which Bonhoeffer presents and explains the cost of discipleship will rock your world. And it's funny, because in our day and age of American religious freedoms, abounding books about the Christian lifestyle, and churches available on the Internet and every street corner, we have as much--if not more--lost sight of the divine truth of the Gospel as Nazi Germany did.
Discipleship means martyrdom, and who better to say so than one of the most honored and beloved martyrs of our time, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the humble pastor and theologian who worked against Hitler and the Third Reich and died for his efforts to free humanity? Even before he awaited his execution in prison, he understood what it costs to follow Jesus. God's gift of grace may be free, but our acceptance of it leaves us in debt--the most wonderful, purposeful, satisfying, uplifting debt we could ever be in.
I cannot recommend this book enough. Christians, you need to read this! Pastors, churches, you need to read this! Nonbelievers, liberals, Atheists, everyone needs to read this! Foremost, we all need to read God's Word, and we also need to see where we have misunderstood or simply neglected understanding the scriptures. We are meant for so much more than our doldrum existence! As the saints and the Body of Christ, we are made in the holy image of God!
Why we have yet to live in this knowledge, I do not know. But this 83-year-old German book, written during one of the most tumultuous times in world history, will revolutionize today if only we read it. Bonhoeffer knew what we refuse to--that the answers to all of life's problems is living in our calling to be disciples. If we can but do that, we can change the world.
BookWorm
Bonhoeffer's book has had a reputation for the past 83 years as being one of the greatest guidebooks to Christian life ever written, and rightfully so. Not only does Bonhoeffer explore the meaning of Jesus' words, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Matt. 16.24b KJV), he also examines the Sermon on the Mount, the legalistic and cheapened walk of most Christians in his day and in ours, and the where we as the Church (Body of Christi) have failed in fulfilling our destiny to become true disciples.
It took me a year to read this book. Coming from the girl who reads 400+ page novels in three hours, that is not a good time. But TCOD deserves a lot of time, prayer, and consideration. The simplistic (if not theological to the point of confusing the average layman) way in which Bonhoeffer presents and explains the cost of discipleship will rock your world. And it's funny, because in our day and age of American religious freedoms, abounding books about the Christian lifestyle, and churches available on the Internet and every street corner, we have as much--if not more--lost sight of the divine truth of the Gospel as Nazi Germany did.
Discipleship means martyrdom, and who better to say so than one of the most honored and beloved martyrs of our time, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the humble pastor and theologian who worked against Hitler and the Third Reich and died for his efforts to free humanity? Even before he awaited his execution in prison, he understood what it costs to follow Jesus. God's gift of grace may be free, but our acceptance of it leaves us in debt--the most wonderful, purposeful, satisfying, uplifting debt we could ever be in.
I cannot recommend this book enough. Christians, you need to read this! Pastors, churches, you need to read this! Nonbelievers, liberals, Atheists, everyone needs to read this! Foremost, we all need to read God's Word, and we also need to see where we have misunderstood or simply neglected understanding the scriptures. We are meant for so much more than our doldrum existence! As the saints and the Body of Christ, we are made in the holy image of God!
Why we have yet to live in this knowledge, I do not know. But this 83-year-old German book, written during one of the most tumultuous times in world history, will revolutionize today if only we read it. Bonhoeffer knew what we refuse to--that the answers to all of life's problems is living in our calling to be disciples. If we can but do that, we can change the world.
BookWorm
December 6, 2019
Look, I hold Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the highest regard and respect. I have no doubt in his faith.
Now that said I have to disagree with his understanding of Faith and Grace. So, my low rating may not be agreed with by others who agree with his views.
I don't suppose this is the place for a discussion on Christian Theology so all I can say is "study to show yourself approved" and consider this with other teachers. Possibly read along with some C.S.Lewis and possibly some Torrance.
Now that said I have to disagree with his understanding of Faith and Grace. So, my low rating may not be agreed with by others who agree with his views.
I don't suppose this is the place for a discussion on Christian Theology so all I can say is "study to show yourself approved" and consider this with other teachers. Possibly read along with some C.S.Lewis and possibly some Torrance.
December 21, 2023
To be honest, I was quite underwhelmed by this. None of it sounds particularly original compared to standard grim-faced calls to discipleship like My Utmost For His Highest (am I the only one that really doesn't like that book?) I suspect it receives as much attention as it does because of Bonhoeffer's fascinating life, and how radical and convicting a writer he can be. However, I'd recommend you read Kierkegaard instead, as you get basically these same ideas but in much more interesting fashion—and Kierkegaard doesn't ramble on for many pages with the same points like Bonhoeffer does, or if he does, he's much more artful about it. Read the first couple chapters of Bonhoeffer and you have the whole book.
There are all sorts of theological oddities too—for a Lutheran pastor, Bonhoeffer says some very non-confessional things and interprets Law and Gospel in some...eccentric ways that are nonetheless rather brilliant at times. This is not to mention the legions of confusing contradictions that fill the book, so much so that his system hardly seems coherent after the first few chapters. There are parts where he seems to say the only thing that matters is the individual believer's relationship with God, and others where he critiques "hyper-Protestantism" for that same belief. He decries "the world" ad nauseam, but says that the Christian cannot reject the duties of the world, etc. I think he probably would have revised it significantly had he lived. Certainly there are valuable things here—the American church desperately needs the polemic against "cheap grace," and there is the occasional passage of impressive theological clarity shining through the murkiness. I just fail to see why this is held in the high regard that it tends to be. I feel the same for other "spiritual classics" like The Imitation of Christ and The Practice of the Presence of God—probably because I glutted myself on inspirational spiritual-formation books in my teenage years and I don't find anything new in the aforementioned. I'm with Lewis in that I get much more fulfillment out of working through tough theological works with the metaphorical pipe between my teeth. I'll try Bonhoeffer's Ethics at some point.
P.S. I was going to write that Bonhoeffer lived the message he wrote with deadly serious faithfulness, but his chapter arguing against political resistance came as a shock. I get the impression that he was very passionate about the Gospel, but couldn't quite settle on any firm beliefs. Unfortunately, he came to choose the wrong experimental belief and we were robbed of him far too early.
There are all sorts of theological oddities too—for a Lutheran pastor, Bonhoeffer says some very non-confessional things and interprets Law and Gospel in some...eccentric ways that are nonetheless rather brilliant at times. This is not to mention the legions of confusing contradictions that fill the book, so much so that his system hardly seems coherent after the first few chapters. There are parts where he seems to say the only thing that matters is the individual believer's relationship with God, and others where he critiques "hyper-Protestantism" for that same belief. He decries "the world" ad nauseam, but says that the Christian cannot reject the duties of the world, etc. I think he probably would have revised it significantly had he lived. Certainly there are valuable things here—the American church desperately needs the polemic against "cheap grace," and there is the occasional passage of impressive theological clarity shining through the murkiness. I just fail to see why this is held in the high regard that it tends to be. I feel the same for other "spiritual classics" like The Imitation of Christ and The Practice of the Presence of God—probably because I glutted myself on inspirational spiritual-formation books in my teenage years and I don't find anything new in the aforementioned. I'm with Lewis in that I get much more fulfillment out of working through tough theological works with the metaphorical pipe between my teeth. I'll try Bonhoeffer's Ethics at some point.
P.S. I was going to write that Bonhoeffer lived the message he wrote with deadly serious faithfulness, but his chapter arguing against political resistance came as a shock. I get the impression that he was very passionate about the Gospel, but couldn't quite settle on any firm beliefs. Unfortunately, he came to choose the wrong experimental belief and we were robbed of him far too early.
November 29, 2012
I'm not going to attempt to "review" such a classic work. Rather, I thought I would comment on what I thought were some striking themes in Bonhoeffer's work.
One thing is the theme of unqualified obedience to Christ. One of Bonhoeffer's chapters is "The Call of Discipleship" and I think that may have been an even more appropriate title for the book. The call is both a gracious call, one we need but don't deserve, and a call to implicit, unqualified obedience in following Christ, as in the case of the rich young man. In various ways, we want to follow "Jesus and". For Bonhoeffer, it is Jesus alone.
His chapter on "the enemy" was interesting in light of his eventual participation in an assassination plot against Hitler. The book discussion group I was in all struggled with reconciling what he wrote about unreserved love for the enemy with his actions against Hitler. From reading Metaxas' biography on Bonhoeffer, it may be the case that he didn't reconcile these but simply saw this as a tragic necessity for which he was prepared to accept judgment not only by men but God.
Finally, one of the striking themes of this book is the idea that discipleship is inescapably lived out in the visible community of the church. In fact, he cannot think of sanctification in purely personal terms but only in the context of the church. Whereas we may tend to think of the church as instrumental in our growth in holiness, Bonhoeffer would see the bride of Christ being prepared for her wedding day, that bride being the church.
As you can see from the edition, this one has been on the shelves a long time. I read about 100 pages in college and then set it aside. Perhaps that was enough challenge for a young disciple. Thanks to the Dead Theologians Society reading group for helping me read the whole!
One thing is the theme of unqualified obedience to Christ. One of Bonhoeffer's chapters is "The Call of Discipleship" and I think that may have been an even more appropriate title for the book. The call is both a gracious call, one we need but don't deserve, and a call to implicit, unqualified obedience in following Christ, as in the case of the rich young man. In various ways, we want to follow "Jesus and". For Bonhoeffer, it is Jesus alone.
His chapter on "the enemy" was interesting in light of his eventual participation in an assassination plot against Hitler. The book discussion group I was in all struggled with reconciling what he wrote about unreserved love for the enemy with his actions against Hitler. From reading Metaxas' biography on Bonhoeffer, it may be the case that he didn't reconcile these but simply saw this as a tragic necessity for which he was prepared to accept judgment not only by men but God.
Finally, one of the striking themes of this book is the idea that discipleship is inescapably lived out in the visible community of the church. In fact, he cannot think of sanctification in purely personal terms but only in the context of the church. Whereas we may tend to think of the church as instrumental in our growth in holiness, Bonhoeffer would see the bride of Christ being prepared for her wedding day, that bride being the church.
As you can see from the edition, this one has been on the shelves a long time. I read about 100 pages in college and then set it aside. Perhaps that was enough challenge for a young disciple. Thanks to the Dead Theologians Society reading group for helping me read the whole!
December 28, 2012
Ever since reading the remarkable Bonhoeffer biography by Eric Metaxas last year, I’ve been eager to read more of Bonhoeffer’s own writings. Discipleship is of particular interest to me, so I decided to start with this book. As was alluded to in the biography, the book deals not primarily with the concept of discipleship in regards to discipling others, but primarily with the individual’s role and responsibilities as a disciple of Christ. I copied down many excerpts from various chapters, but especially appreciated Bonhoeffer’s insights on the Body of Christ, and the Church as a Visible Community. I love this statement that he makes about bearing fruit as a disciple: “Fruit is always the miraculous, the created; it is never the result of willing, but always a growth. The fruit of the Spirit is always a gift of God, and only he can produce it. They who bear it know as little about it as the tree knows of its fruit. They know only the power of him on whom their life depends. There is no room for boasting here, but only for an ever more intimate union with him.”
November 16, 2019
Most Christians, especially those who were raised in the church, have heard the Sermon on the Mount time and time again...but, here, Bonhoeffer brings new life to the oft-quoted words of Jesus, as well as other parts of God's Word. For many people of the Way, this will likely come as a shock to their system...but it has a very powerful message that all people who claim to follow Jesus should not only hear, but apply to their lives as well.
November 24, 2024
Indeed a great book!!!
Bonhoffers work is dripping and saturated with the spirit of a martyr, which hasn't loss a bit from his freshness and his relevance to the present....
The deep love to his Lord, and his genuine esteem for God's word, are without doubt the items that stand out visible trough the entire book.
Bonhoeffer explain the difference between what he calls the cheap grace versus the costly grace.
Particularly trough the light by the chapter about single-minded obedience I've been exposed as a Christian.
A memoir by G. Leibholz about Bonhoffers background and life with his dead as a martyr trough the Nazis at Flossenbürg round off this remarkable work.
Since then, Bonhoeffers name has been tightly link together with the cost of discipleship!!!
Chapters like the body of Christ and the visible community, at least for me, are especially precious...
This book isn't a dry theologian paper, but much more this is like an early morning call and even an alarm call for the church today!!!
Every Christian should read this work, even for non Christians would I dare to say its a rewarding reading experience.
Of course I give with pleasure 5 stars to it!!!
A wonderful and fascinating book, written by a charismatic and outstanding personality.....
My full recommendation.
Bonhoffers work is dripping and saturated with the spirit of a martyr, which hasn't loss a bit from his freshness and his relevance to the present....
The deep love to his Lord, and his genuine esteem for God's word, are without doubt the items that stand out visible trough the entire book.
Bonhoeffer explain the difference between what he calls the cheap grace versus the costly grace.
Particularly trough the light by the chapter about single-minded obedience I've been exposed as a Christian.
A memoir by G. Leibholz about Bonhoffers background and life with his dead as a martyr trough the Nazis at Flossenbürg round off this remarkable work.
Since then, Bonhoeffers name has been tightly link together with the cost of discipleship!!!
Chapters like the body of Christ and the visible community, at least for me, are especially precious...
This book isn't a dry theologian paper, but much more this is like an early morning call and even an alarm call for the church today!!!
Every Christian should read this work, even for non Christians would I dare to say its a rewarding reading experience.
Of course I give with pleasure 5 stars to it!!!
A wonderful and fascinating book, written by a charismatic and outstanding personality.....
My full recommendation.
June 25, 2021
Bonhoeffer cooks up a heaping serving of conviction in this classic work on discipleship. He writes, “The call to discipleship bids one to leave their former way of life. This also means that discipleship is not what we want it to be but rather what God makes it to be…. To endure the cross is not a tragedy. It is the fruit of the life that follows Jesus.” Yet, this life of discipleship, which may initially sound like a life of bondage, is actually a liberating grace given to us by God. On this point Bonhoeffer writes, “Taking up the yoke of Christ means releasing the yoke of self, which is actually a relief.” And therein lies one of the many paradoxes of Christianity: in laying down one’s life, priorities, comforts, riches, and securities, they will gain everything. Read to be challenged. Read to be encouraged.
August 7, 2011
Bonhoeffer was only a few that understood that National Socialism was godless and in my opionion stripping men of dignity, liberty and freedom. I think this is a good read because the enemy of cheap grace is so rapid in our churches today. Bonhoeffer lived in a time where cheap grace could not be afforded and so do we. The book gives a clear understanding of grace thru discipleship. Bonhoeffer goes on to say that this cheap grace is what we give ourselves instead of being given by God thru Jesus Christ crucified. Grace that is given by the Lord thru the blood of Jesus will reveal truth and give us strength. Grace that we will love freely without worry of circumstances or outcome. Discipleship is abiding in Christ and having all fixed on fixed on him. Bonhoeffer gives clear understanding of discipleship and because of his understanding, he was able to stand against the Nazi regime. On the bad side of this read, I thought it to be mechanical. He obviously did not let his emotions rule his heart. This may cause people not to connect to what he is saying, however, I do think when you are in a battle situation, that is the only way to have victory.
Read
September 14, 2018Whew! My brain is mush.
It has been really helpful for me to read this book alongside my friend and mentor. We have gotten together over the past three weeks (and once more this Friday) to discuss what we've read and how our lives as disciples differ from Bonhoeffer's definition of a disciple.
***
UPDATE 9/14/18: I came across this article which helped me better understand Bonhoeffer's theology.
We need to be discerning readers.
A Reliable Guide? https://banneroftruth.org/us/resource...
It has been really helpful for me to read this book alongside my friend and mentor. We have gotten together over the past three weeks (and once more this Friday) to discuss what we've read and how our lives as disciples differ from Bonhoeffer's definition of a disciple.
***
UPDATE 9/14/18: I came across this article which helped me better understand Bonhoeffer's theology.
We need to be discerning readers.
A Reliable Guide? https://banneroftruth.org/us/resource...
January 21, 2019
Wow. I’m so glad I finally “read” (listened) to this compelling book. Now I need to read my old print copy with pen- in- hand to mark up all the gems that inspired and challenged me.
November 18, 2024
4.5
Odată cu această carte am realizat că pentru a avea vibrație și sens pentru mine adevăruri mari ale vieții creștine trebuie să experimentezi în timp această viață. Am mai avut încercarea de a citi această carte și la începutul drumului de ucenic, dar ideile care acum mi s-au părut fascinante atunci erau platitudini. Nuanțele și adevărurile simple au cu atât mai mare importanță când relația cu Dumnezeu e mai înaintată.
Doar cei ce cred ascultă și doar ce ce ascultă cred. Mare mare adevăr!
Odată cu această carte am realizat că pentru a avea vibrație și sens pentru mine adevăruri mari ale vieții creștine trebuie să experimentezi în timp această viață. Am mai avut încercarea de a citi această carte și la începutul drumului de ucenic, dar ideile care acum mi s-au părut fascinante atunci erau platitudini. Nuanțele și adevărurile simple au cu atât mai mare importanță când relația cu Dumnezeu e mai înaintată.
Doar cei ce cred ascultă și doar ce ce ascultă cred. Mare mare adevăr!
December 28, 2022
After reading Eric Metaxas's biography on Bonhoeffer, I wanted to get my hands on some of Bonhoeffer's own work. This was a bit of an impulse buy in that sense. But let me tell you something...
This book ranks right up there with C. S. Lewis for me.
Not necessarily in read-ability, Bonhoeffer is much more dense. But not so dense that I had to work really hard to follow him. Just dense enough that I had to make sure I was paying attention when I read and willing to let my mind be engaged. This is not a book you can rush through. This is not a book you can just check off your 'to be read' list.
This is a book you read because you want to grapple with your faith. A book you read to go deeper. A book that challenges you, a book that reminds you. Bonhoeffer is blunt and full of passion, and it is honestly refreshing in today's world. He is not here to encourage you with platitudes; this is not a self-help book. He lays out in brutally honest terms what it means to follow Christ, what it will cost a person. But He also lays out what they will become and what they will gain from it.
Christ said to count the cost before you decided to follow Him, and this book lays out exactly what that cost is. This is real Christianity that grapples with the real world as it is. This is costly grace, the grace that we need more of.
This first reading of it was a general one for me, where I got the sense of what the book was about. The next one will be much more in depth.
This book ranks right up there with C. S. Lewis for me.
Not necessarily in read-ability, Bonhoeffer is much more dense. But not so dense that I had to work really hard to follow him. Just dense enough that I had to make sure I was paying attention when I read and willing to let my mind be engaged. This is not a book you can rush through. This is not a book you can just check off your 'to be read' list.
This is a book you read because you want to grapple with your faith. A book you read to go deeper. A book that challenges you, a book that reminds you. Bonhoeffer is blunt and full of passion, and it is honestly refreshing in today's world. He is not here to encourage you with platitudes; this is not a self-help book. He lays out in brutally honest terms what it means to follow Christ, what it will cost a person. But He also lays out what they will become and what they will gain from it.
Christ said to count the cost before you decided to follow Him, and this book lays out exactly what that cost is. This is real Christianity that grapples with the real world as it is. This is costly grace, the grace that we need more of.
This first reading of it was a general one for me, where I got the sense of what the book was about. The next one will be much more in depth.
March 6, 2016
Having read Eric Mataxus's brilliant biography of Bonhoeffer... 5 stars... skip this review... go read the biography... I had to read more of what Bonhoeffer wrote. It is tough reading. Good food, but vegetables when my brain occasionally wanted chocolate!
The book is divided into 5 sections:
1) Grace and discipleship
2) The Sermon on the Mount
3) The messengers
4) The Church of Jesus Christ and the life of discipleship
The book is worth your time if you're interested in deepening in discipleship. Section 1 was the most helpful in terms of laying out Bonhoeffer's central argument. He puts grace (freedom in the midst of imperfection) side-by-side with discipleship (pursuit of perfection... at least in the area of devotion and service.) This tension will eventually strike any Christian if s/he is thoughtful and lives long enough.
The exposition of the Sermon on the Mount could be a book on its own. Lots more in Matthew 5-7 than I ever saw through my own eyes.
The balance of the book is about how to apply all this to living in the ordinary sense of our lives and our associations.
This is one that will require several re-readings to fully consume.
The book is divided into 5 sections:
1) Grace and discipleship
2) The Sermon on the Mount
3) The messengers
4) The Church of Jesus Christ and the life of discipleship
The book is worth your time if you're interested in deepening in discipleship. Section 1 was the most helpful in terms of laying out Bonhoeffer's central argument. He puts grace (freedom in the midst of imperfection) side-by-side with discipleship (pursuit of perfection... at least in the area of devotion and service.) This tension will eventually strike any Christian if s/he is thoughtful and lives long enough.
The exposition of the Sermon on the Mount could be a book on its own. Lots more in Matthew 5-7 than I ever saw through my own eyes.
The balance of the book is about how to apply all this to living in the ordinary sense of our lives and our associations.
This is one that will require several re-readings to fully consume.
April 12, 2020
Many layers. This book is very complex and takes much contemplation and I don’t know if I agree with all he says. However, even in the cases of disagreement, I can admire his heartfelt encouragement of truth.
He doesn’t strike me as a typical theologian who expounds on the mechanics of various truths, instead he writes like a passionate youth who is earnestly seeking to find what makes his girlfriend laugh so he can hear that musical sound. He is clearly a deep thinker and tackles very complex concepts, but he does it with the motive of understanding how God is calling his disciples to live because he wants to live in such a way to please his maker.
He doesn’t strike me as a typical theologian who expounds on the mechanics of various truths, instead he writes like a passionate youth who is earnestly seeking to find what makes his girlfriend laugh so he can hear that musical sound. He is clearly a deep thinker and tackles very complex concepts, but he does it with the motive of understanding how God is calling his disciples to live because he wants to live in such a way to please his maker.
November 14, 2023
I am always impressed by Bonhoeffer's level of conviction and integrity. Regardless of whether I believe 100% with his theology, he is readily able to give an account for what he believes.
I particularly like this book because it has conceptualized for me the gravity of good, real, authentic discipleship. I appreciate that he reiterates that we are disciples of Christ himself, not of any specific teacher. I can't imagine what he must have had to endure to maintain his faith during the Nazi regime and his opposition to it.
I particularly like this book because it has conceptualized for me the gravity of good, real, authentic discipleship. I appreciate that he reiterates that we are disciples of Christ himself, not of any specific teacher. I can't imagine what he must have had to endure to maintain his faith during the Nazi regime and his opposition to it.
October 26, 2012
Some final thoughts here after reading Cost of Discipleship. I give it 4/5 stars, but I would almost rather knock it down to 3/5. However, I suspect that its worth grows on future re-readings. I hoped for better exposition of Scripture, but I was also very taken with Bonhoeffer's theological courage and often exacting pull-no-punches arguments. For brevity's sake, I'll leave my comments as an itemized list:
What about joy and resurrection? Bonhoeffer barely develops this central aspect of the disciple's life. He is overly glum about the whole Christian enterprise, despite his persistent emphasis on finding joy in Christ. If he has found such joy, where in the world is it? Why does it not leap off the page? To be fair, his context was perhaps part of the reason for this. He is reacting to a superficial progressivism, and perhaps he sees himself as a prophet instilling discipline upon would-be disciples of Christ in the face of a German church that seems incapable of divorcing itself from the growing Nazi culture. Still, we need to be wary of this emphasis, because I firmly believe that the present Western world needs to know much more about the joy of Christian life than a reminder of our persistent sinfulness. Furthermore, I think a stronger emphasis on the meaning of Christ's resurrection would balance out Bonhoeffer's treatment of death and sin. We do worship a God who has become incarnate in Jesus and crucified as the Messiah - but even more so, we worship a God who has been victorious over both of those conditions, that is, the frailty and dirtiness of human life and the torture of sin and death. That victory should be emphasized as something much more than a means to our own salvation. It is this, but it is also the dawning of a new world, the springtime after a very long winter, the very foretaste of unimaginable good things. (Thank God for NT Wright and his work in this area.)
Literalism. One more important concern or criticism I have of Bonhoeffer's book is that his hermeneutic is at times, well, amateurish. He literally interprets most of the Sermon on the Mount AND THEN a lot more. It is one thing to take Christ's words literally in a sermon that is probably intended to be taken mostly literally anyway. But it is quite another thing to continue in this vein throughout much of his further exploration of the sermon's themes. For example, in his interpretation of Christ's command to preach to Israel, not the Samaritans and Gentiles, he states that this shows that Christian disciples are to be 100% dependent on Christ's will and ideas, not their own. Well okay, I get your point, Dietrich, but I think you are pushing it too far. The passage does not spell this interpretation out, and your interpretation gives very little help to a Christian who might try to assume such determinism. What is to be the medium for such explicit divine instructions? Are we to constantly doubt ideas that seem to come from our own brains and wait for dreams or verbal instructions from God? I don't aim to disparage these avenues of divine communication, because I think they can be valid. However, Bonhoeffer's interpretation leaves us little to work with when it comes to the 99% of life in which God seems much more quiet and even at times silent. The lesson to be learned here is that Bonhoeffer is not the most critical thinker of Biblical texts. We should value his thoughts on culture much more than his reading of the Bible. I'm sure a lot of people might disagree, but given my knowledge of Biblical scholarship, I can't help but see the holes and lack of systematic, interpretive rigor in his writings.
The Task of the Church. This is the heart of Bonhoeffer's message, I think, and it is of great value. Once we establish that we are each individually and ultimately responsible before God, we need to take a step forward alongside our fellow disciples. We must embrace each other because it is in fact part of sanctification. He says that "by pursuing sanctification outside the Church, we are trying to pronounce ourselves holy." Such a pronouncement can only come from Christ, and this happens within the Body of Christ. (How mystic is this Body? Does it exist outside the walls of formal Christian communities?) Crucially, Bonhoeffer is writing about this at a time when the German church had grown limp and refused to turn away from the thrall of an idolatrous German nationalism. He is a theologian refocusing the task of the church amidst one of Christianity's most grievous abandonments of righteousness. This lends a credibility that is often missing from today's prevailing theologies of Western comfort. Bonhoeffer, I believe, has the spark of prophetic discernment and speech that can call the church, even now, out of periods of malaise. And while each person is ultimately responsible to God as an individual, we can, as the people of God, turn back to Him together, collectively, as the full body of Christ.
What about joy and resurrection? Bonhoeffer barely develops this central aspect of the disciple's life. He is overly glum about the whole Christian enterprise, despite his persistent emphasis on finding joy in Christ. If he has found such joy, where in the world is it? Why does it not leap off the page? To be fair, his context was perhaps part of the reason for this. He is reacting to a superficial progressivism, and perhaps he sees himself as a prophet instilling discipline upon would-be disciples of Christ in the face of a German church that seems incapable of divorcing itself from the growing Nazi culture. Still, we need to be wary of this emphasis, because I firmly believe that the present Western world needs to know much more about the joy of Christian life than a reminder of our persistent sinfulness. Furthermore, I think a stronger emphasis on the meaning of Christ's resurrection would balance out Bonhoeffer's treatment of death and sin. We do worship a God who has become incarnate in Jesus and crucified as the Messiah - but even more so, we worship a God who has been victorious over both of those conditions, that is, the frailty and dirtiness of human life and the torture of sin and death. That victory should be emphasized as something much more than a means to our own salvation. It is this, but it is also the dawning of a new world, the springtime after a very long winter, the very foretaste of unimaginable good things. (Thank God for NT Wright and his work in this area.)
Literalism. One more important concern or criticism I have of Bonhoeffer's book is that his hermeneutic is at times, well, amateurish. He literally interprets most of the Sermon on the Mount AND THEN a lot more. It is one thing to take Christ's words literally in a sermon that is probably intended to be taken mostly literally anyway. But it is quite another thing to continue in this vein throughout much of his further exploration of the sermon's themes. For example, in his interpretation of Christ's command to preach to Israel, not the Samaritans and Gentiles, he states that this shows that Christian disciples are to be 100% dependent on Christ's will and ideas, not their own. Well okay, I get your point, Dietrich, but I think you are pushing it too far. The passage does not spell this interpretation out, and your interpretation gives very little help to a Christian who might try to assume such determinism. What is to be the medium for such explicit divine instructions? Are we to constantly doubt ideas that seem to come from our own brains and wait for dreams or verbal instructions from God? I don't aim to disparage these avenues of divine communication, because I think they can be valid. However, Bonhoeffer's interpretation leaves us little to work with when it comes to the 99% of life in which God seems much more quiet and even at times silent. The lesson to be learned here is that Bonhoeffer is not the most critical thinker of Biblical texts. We should value his thoughts on culture much more than his reading of the Bible. I'm sure a lot of people might disagree, but given my knowledge of Biblical scholarship, I can't help but see the holes and lack of systematic, interpretive rigor in his writings.
The Task of the Church. This is the heart of Bonhoeffer's message, I think, and it is of great value. Once we establish that we are each individually and ultimately responsible before God, we need to take a step forward alongside our fellow disciples. We must embrace each other because it is in fact part of sanctification. He says that "by pursuing sanctification outside the Church, we are trying to pronounce ourselves holy." Such a pronouncement can only come from Christ, and this happens within the Body of Christ. (How mystic is this Body? Does it exist outside the walls of formal Christian communities?) Crucially, Bonhoeffer is writing about this at a time when the German church had grown limp and refused to turn away from the thrall of an idolatrous German nationalism. He is a theologian refocusing the task of the church amidst one of Christianity's most grievous abandonments of righteousness. This lends a credibility that is often missing from today's prevailing theologies of Western comfort. Bonhoeffer, I believe, has the spark of prophetic discernment and speech that can call the church, even now, out of periods of malaise. And while each person is ultimately responsible to God as an individual, we can, as the people of God, turn back to Him together, collectively, as the full body of Christ.
January 20, 2014
Glad to have finally gotten through this classic. The opening of the book was very edifying and I enjoyed the way how the author tackled on the problem of cheap grace theology. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is truly a Lutheran and one get that feel in the book. It is a call to believers to be disciples of Jesus Christ and to be one faithfully. An excellent book for a believer to read to count the cost and one in which the readers must keep in mind that for the author who lived in Nazi Germany had to pay the ultimate cost in following Jesus rather than go with the “mainstream” Lutheranism that was supporting if not even being sympathetic to the Nazis. Of the sections in the book, I enjoyed the most the exposition of the Sermon on the Mount as it was challenging as well as sanctifying. He does a good job of showing how the law points us to our utter depravity and ultimately our need for Jesus as Savior. While not taking away from the book’s exposition of the Sermon of the Mount I think his denial of the distinction of turn the other cheek for personal offence versus certain roles and duties (think of police officer, judge, etc) that this doesn’t apply in is problematic. I also have to note that I disagree with the author’s understanding of the role of baptism as well (I don’t find it biblical to baptize infant and his understanding of the relationship between baptism and salvation). I was genuinely surprised that despite the author’s theological educational background, he shows little if any influence of Liberalism in his book. This is a classic that serves as a good devotional.
April 2, 2023
Bonhoeffer verzet zich in dit boek tegen 'goedkope genade' - dat betekent voor hem zowel het geloof als makkelijke troost of juist een streng wettisch systeem. Daar tegenover zet hij de navolging van Christus, dit weet hij o.a. aan de hand van de Bergrede erg concreet uit te werken.
January 21, 2024
I found my heart burning as I sat with this book. I don’t think I will forget it, and I’m grateful for the gift Bonhoeffer has been to my life.
February 20, 2011
I'm rating this a 5 mostly due to the personal significance I derived while reading, as well as for the enormous theological insight Bonhoeffer's book gave me, in particular about what the Beatitudes actually mean. I put this in the 'life-changing' heading of my personal library, and I'd estimate that about 25% of my copy is now underlined. As for readability, it was a bit of a slog at points as Bonhoeffer's style is quite academic, though his insights are broadly relevant. Overall I found his explanatory section on the Sermon on the Mount to be the highlight of the book. I highly recommend the book to anyone willing to put in some work to derive significant insight from the book. I find it so much more revealing that not only did Bonhoeffer preach self-sacrifice and complete obedience to Christ, he actually lived it to the point that he re-entered Nazi Germany and preached openly against Hitler's regime and was eventually martyred just before the end of WWII.
A few of my favorite quotes:
On 'cheap grace' (the grace we seek without seeking repentance): "In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin."
On costly grace (the grace given by God, the result of which is following Christ): "Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."
"When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."
"The Incarnation is the ultimate reason why the service of God cannot be divorced from the service of man."
"If when we judged others, our real motive was to destroy evil, we should look for evil where it is certain to be found, and that is in our own hearts."
On the image of Christ: "Rather, it is the image of one who enters a world of sin and death, who takes upon himself all the sorrows of humanity...the Man born to poverty, the friend of publicans and sinners, the Man of sorrows, rejected of man and forsaken of God. Here is God made man, here is man in the new image of God."
"It is only because he became like us that we can become like him."
And about a hundred more!
A few of my favorite quotes:
On 'cheap grace' (the grace we seek without seeking repentance): "In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin."
On costly grace (the grace given by God, the result of which is following Christ): "Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."
"When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."
"The Incarnation is the ultimate reason why the service of God cannot be divorced from the service of man."
"If when we judged others, our real motive was to destroy evil, we should look for evil where it is certain to be found, and that is in our own hearts."
On the image of Christ: "Rather, it is the image of one who enters a world of sin and death, who takes upon himself all the sorrows of humanity...the Man born to poverty, the friend of publicans and sinners, the Man of sorrows, rejected of man and forsaken of God. Here is God made man, here is man in the new image of God."
"It is only because he became like us that we can become like him."
And about a hundred more!
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