Davis Smith's Reviews > The Cost of Discipleship
The Cost of Discipleship
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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.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
April 2, 2023
– Shelved
April 2, 2023
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theology-contemporary
April 8, 2023
– Shelved as:
unfinished
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Murray
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Apr 09, 2023 12:33AM
An interesting review. Thank you. Yes it’s difficult to go against the flow when a person and their writings become iconic. I appreciate your comment about My Utmost. It is very legalistic and bullying, in my opinion. He relies on guilt. I feel the same about Kempis. I cannot stand that book. Gloom and doom as soon as I turn to page one. Ravenhill is another. But then a lot of people like to be spoken to in that way so I think that sort of approach will always be around.
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Murray wrote: "An interesting review. Thank you. Yes it’s difficult to go against the flow when a person and their writings become iconic. I appreciate your comment about My Utmost. It is very legalistic and bull..."
Yup. I fear that those who read these "spiritual classics" will forget that Christianity is primarily about the restoration of joy to humanity. Also, the "denying the world" thing gets really old really quickly, and I think there are so much better ways to express the essence of spiritual practice than that tired verbiage. Much of it just depends on the tradition you come from as well—I can't stand most of the books I've read from a Reformed perspective, like Packer's Knowing God, because it comes across barren and hectoring (Calvin himself is actually much better!) For me, as a believer in Law and Gospel, there is a time and place for such an approach, but there is real danger in confuting the two and presenting the Gospel under the facade of the Law.
Yup. I fear that those who read these "spiritual classics" will forget that Christianity is primarily about the restoration of joy to humanity. Also, the "denying the world" thing gets really old really quickly, and I think there are so much better ways to express the essence of spiritual practice than that tired verbiage. Much of it just depends on the tradition you come from as well—I can't stand most of the books I've read from a Reformed perspective, like Packer's Knowing God, because it comes across barren and hectoring (Calvin himself is actually much better!) For me, as a believer in Law and Gospel, there is a time and place for such an approach, but there is real danger in confuting the two and presenting the Gospel under the facade of the Law.