Worth the effort of reading as a part of "costly grace"

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	• The Cost of Discipleship Dietrich Bonhoeffer Touchstone, 1995 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 87 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Cost of carrying one's cross

To be a part of the World and yet not be of this world? To not cloister oneself from the unredempted, but yet live to please Jesus. That question should be thought of as one reads this work. The book has a twenty-two page biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and memories G. Leibholtz of his friend Dietrich Bonhoeffer. These works serve as a letter of recommendation to the reader. The author of this work taught that true disciples of Christ take up their cross daily, and the writer of this work practiced what he preached. A true follower of Christ seeks the praise of God and not the praise of men. Yes, Bonhoeffer left Germany briefly in Germany in 1939, but he felt compelled to return to Germany. He sought to do God's will in Nazi Germany. While other "Christians" changed their theology to not offend the Government authorities, he did not. The text of this book was first published in 1937; This work may provoke you to search your soul. What cross God may be calling you the reader to carry. He knew discipleship went beyond repentance and the seeking of God's forgiveness. Taking up one's cross had meaning to this man. Yes, Bonhoeffer could have waited out the war in the United States, but he could not and be consistent with the arguments presented in his book titled the Cost of Discipleship.

In this work the author bemoans those who seek out the acceptance of man over the seeking to do the will of God. He does not think highly of those who try to separate themselves from the world, so to avoid the trials and temptations of the day to day life. The Life of Martin Luther is brought up. Before his rebellion from the Roman Catholic Church, Luther lived a "cloister" life. He did not have to deal with the day to day temptations the general populace; Living and working separately from those who raise families and work in commerce. Not because the world is in itself good and holy, but because there is where the Christian is called. The author describes Christian living as hand to hand combat.

The main theme of this book is who rules your life? Is it Jesus or your family? Do friends, things or employment ultimately determine what you think or behave in your life? Does your theology conform to the things of this world or to the teachings of Jesus Christ? Bonhoeffer reflects on the teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. He then goes on to teach how the Disciples learned by what Jesus taught. No he does not deal with their weakness and/or failures, but with the final product that was wrought in part through the teachings of Jesus Christ and seeking to live a godly life. This work also tries to answer the question: what it means to be part of the body of Christ? What is the difference to be a part of the visible and invisible community? What it means to be a true Saint and one who is made into the image of the Christ.

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Worth the effort of reading as a part of "costly grace"

Bonhoeffer, born into an affluent and complacently areligious Berlin family--his father was a prominent psychiatrist and his mother from one of Berlin's better families--became religious and then a theologian at a young age, having obtained his doctorate in the field at the tender age of 21. Notable for his uncompromising approach to religion and ethics, this text emanates from that modus operandi, and is important for his discussion of cheap grace vs. costly grace, if for no other reason.

Reading German religious philosophy in translation is especially soporific, and in this manner the text does not fail to disappoint. Reading Bonhoeffer will never be easy. Even those greatly interested will, at times, feel that gauzy-headedness one experiences in close encounters with the unintentionally obfuscating.

Having said that, the book represents a strong philosophical effort by a man whose likeness is one of those adorning Westminster Abbey, having earned the spot by his martyrdom at the hand of the Nazis at the end of WWII.

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The price to be paid...

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one who knew of that which he spoke when dealing with the issue of cheap grace versus costly grace. Bonhoeffer's commitment to the principles of his vocation and being cost him his life - executed in the closing days of World War II, Bonhoeffer walked a dangerous path through exercising his vocation faithfully in the midst of the twin evils of warfare and Nazi domination of Germany.

Bonhoeffer's life, from the earliest days, probably seemed like it was set on an idyllic path - the son of a professional family with strong roots in a prosperous and civilised culture, Bonhoeffer would seem to have `had it made'. His early days in school showed him to be a minister and academic of great promise. However, his experiences at Union Seminary in New York City, an academic environment very different from the German academy, and at the Abyssian Baptist Church, an African-American congregation, vastly different from his Germanic Lutheran background, prepared a way for Bonhoeffer to expand beyond his upbringing and learning to become someone striving to find God in all people, and the will of God in all that he did.

The subject of this book is grace - too often, in Bonhoeffer's day and our own, people seem to look at grace as something free, instead of something freely offered. Bonhoeffer points out that the call of God and the gift of God's grace is not to be taken lightly - `the call to follow Jesus always leads to death'. This may seem an unusual call in our day; after all, the more prosperous of our churches would seem to espouse a conventionally respectable lifestyle (far from the `death' Bonhoeffer speaks about) as the reward for following God. However, Bonhoeffer uses the example of the disciples, each of whom faced martyrdom, as did many early Christian leaders, as a touchstone for the vocation.

Bonhoeffer also gives a great deal of attention in this text to the Sermon on the Mount, providing interpretations that still speak to congregations today, but also with warnings. Bonhoeffer admonishes those who would pick and choose the parts of scripture, or indeed the parts of the Sermon on the Mount, that fit what they want to hear, disregarding the rest. Bonhoeffer writes that we are not called to interpret, but to obey, giving ourselves up to God, as the disciples did, as martyrs did, and as Bonhoeffer himself would do in the fullness of his lifetime.

This edition of Bonhoeffer's great work is prefaced by his friend, Bishop G.K.A. Bell of Chichester, a friend and admirer of Bonhoeffer, who states that, `Dietrich himself was a martyr many times before he died'. There is also a memoir provided by G. Leibholz, which puts the text in historical context. However, the real substance of the book is in Bonhoeffer's own words. Cheap grace was the deadly enemy of the church then, and it remains a dangerous foe to this day.

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If you want to follow Jesus, this will challenge you

For those who wonder if there is more to the Christian life than just living and occasionally asking for grace, while seeing minimal change in your life, this book expains why that is. This is by far the most beneficial book I have read apart from the Bible. Bonhoeffer's view of following Jesus is intense and inspiring (just read the intro about his life). If you want to follow Jesus, I would not miss out on this book.

"He Who Learns Must Suffer . . .

"And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God." These words of Aeschylus echoed through me time and time again as I read Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "Cost of Discipleship". This was not an easy book to read. I do not think it was meant to be easy.

Bonhoeffer was a person of limitless courage and faith. Born 1906 in Breslau, Germany to a prosperous family Bonhoeffer studied theology and completed his doctoral thesis when he was 21. He rose to some measure of fame in the 1930s by virtue of his writings and radio sermons.

The rise of Adolph Hitler ran parallel to Bonhoeffer's own rise and it was opposition to the evils of Nazi-ism that compelled Bonhoeffer to put his words into actions, actions that cost him his life. As is set out in the introductory memoir in this edition, Bonhoeffer understood immediately that Hitler and his national socialist ideology represented a grave threat to Germans, to Christianity, and to western civilization. In a radio adress he gave in February, 1933 Bonhoeffer denounced Hitler and denounced his fellow Germans for accepting a corrupt and inhumane leader and system as its idol. Although Bonhoeffer spent a great deal of time living in England, safe from harm, he understood that he could not in good conscience "participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people." Bonhoeffer returned to Germany in 1939 to take up the struggle against Nazi-ism. He had to have known that his return would lead to his death but he knew he could not do otherwise. He was called and he obeyed that call without question.

Bonhoeffer was arrested in 1943 after being caught assisting the escape of a number of Jews from Germany. On April 8, 1945, with Allied troops only days from liberating his prison, Bonhoeffer was executed on the orders of Hitler by the S.S. Black Guards. One cannot read the Cost of Discipleship without an acute understanding that his writings on sacrifice, on obedience, and on the cost of grace were mirrored by his actions.

Cost of Discipleships consists of a series of set pieces on grace, justification, and obedience to God. This was a tough book to read for two reasons. First, I grew up in a tradition in which words like grace and justification were concepts best left for other denominations. I had to think about the meaning and context of those words in order to understand what he was saying. Second, Bonhoeffer does not speak to his reader in the manner of a kindly, easy-going grandfather. Rather, he speaks in the manner of the strict drill instructor in boot camp whose manner is designed to hit you in the face with your own (and his) inadequacies until you break. As you read further the purpose behind Bonhoeffer's harsh manner evidences itself. Like the drill instructor his purpose is not to be harsh for the sake of harshness but to save your neck once you leave boot camp and make your way to the front lines. The drill instructor is harsh to help ensure your survival. Bonhoeffer is harsh to help one seek salvation through faith.

The book begins with a section entitled The Call to Discipleship. Each step of the way Bonhoeffer sets up a test, a test that this reader invariably fails each step of the way. He discusses `cheap grace', the kind where "my only duty as a Christian is to eave the world for an hour or so on a Sunday morning and go to church to be assured that my sins are all forgiven." Bonhoeffer asserts that if one `believes' one must obey and if one does not obey they cannot believe. He argues that prayer should be hidden, not public. Too often public prayer in churches is nothing more than `empty noise'. Further, he suggests that our own good deeds, like our prayer, should be hidden. If we perform righteous acts to receive a pat on the back from our friends or family it is valueless to God. It was hard not to recognize myself every step of the way. It clearly must have been Bonhoeffer's intent to have us feel this discomfort and if so he did a remarkably good job of it.

Bonhoeffer suggests that too many people feel they must know the path they are about to follow before beginning their spiritual journey. In fact, Bonhoeffer claims the opposite is the case. He argues that we will find out once we begin: "plunge into the deep waters beyond your own comprehension, and I will help you to comprehend even as I do."

The heart of Cost of Discipleship is found in Bonhoeffer's extensive examination of the Sermon on the Mount. It is at once both illuminating and powerful. Again, Bonhoeffer's own life provides justification for the argument that the call to discipleship is not easy and will likely bring pain and suffering but that it can be done if one so chooses. The fact that I have no doubt that I lack the wherewithal to act in a similar fashion is both depressing and challenging. How does one respond to such a challenge? Such wisdom as I acquire from this book will, no doubt, come drop by drop and with no small amount of pain.

This is a compelling book for anyone interested in matters of faith and the role of faith in contemporary society.

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