dietrich bonhoeffer book the cost of discipleship

It is this kind of discipleship the Bonhoeffer draws our attention to – a single-minded focus on obedience to the call of Jesus – and it is this kind of discipleship that Bonhoeffer lived.Paperback. In fact, it could not be and still be worthy of praise. It did not need to be manufactured on its own. He was simply focused on obeying Jesus and the boldness followed naturally. That is the sense I get from Bonhoeffer’s style. A disciple looks only to his Master, never at his own works. A disciple’s good works are hidden from himself. He speaks often of the “hiddenness” of the righteousness of the disciples. Their “boldness” is really only added for shock value. There are many “talking-heads” today who are “bold,” but they are the bold for their own sake, for their own brand. But sometimes I am being soft and cowardly.

I hope that a bit of Bonhoeffer’s boldness and style can find its way into my preaching and writing (and even personal conversation.) I so often couch everything I am saying, and sometimes that is necessary. Part 2 is an exposition on the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, most of the book is simply exposition on Scripture. Bonhoeffer simply says it as he sees it and grounds it all in a rich understanding of Scripture. The Cost of Discipleship is devoid of the fluff so common in most modern popular books. Is this distinction really so great? Is there really so much on the line? Is the way really so narrow? Is this cost really so high? He does not often call the reader to decision, he just points out that there is one, and that decision is of utmost importance. This draws the reader to a point of internal conflict. He loves to draw sharp distinctions between ideas, his most famous being his distinction between cheap grace and costly grace.

Whether it is because of the crisis in which Bonhoeffer wrote or not the style of The Cost of Discipleship is bold. He not only wrote about this – he bore this out in his life and death. Bonhoeffer speaks often of suffering and martyrdom and the Christian life being a life shaped by the cross. For others who resisted and chose instead to follow Jesus, the cost was high. Bonhoeffer wrote to a church in the crisis of Nazi Germany. I have done so a little bit here, in regards to Bonhoeffer’s view of discipleship.Īs much as I was struck by the message of this book, I was perhaps more impressed by Bonhoeffer’s tone. However time constrains me to deal too much with the content. I would love to bring those notes and reflections to bear on this review. My copy of The Cost of Discipleship is filled with underlined passages and notes in the margins, all indications of time where Boenhoffer led me on a mini inner-dialog.

Dietrich bonhoeffer book the cost of discipleship