Bonhoeffer has become somewhat of a cultic figure in recent years, and that's unfortunate. He was an important but flawed thinker who could never escape the Protestant individualism of his religious tradition. This book is probably the best example of his work, though Bethge's picture book on his life ("Steps") contains enough for most people.
* "Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession...grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate." * "Christianity without the living Christ is inevitably Christianity without discipleship" * "The life of discipleship can only be maintained so long as nothing is allowed to come between Christ and ourselves--neither the law, nor personal piety, nor even the world."
Bonhoeffer was willing to practice what he preached. He had opportunities to escape from the prison where they kept him (for his part in an assasination plot of Hitler), but he stayed and was an example to everyone, even the guards. Himmler had him killed soon before the war ended. Too bad. It would have been nice to have had Bonhoeffer in the latter half of the 20th century. Whether or not I agree with every doctrinal idea he had, though, this is a book that has been a challenge in my own life, and it's one that I ought to reread more often.