Book Study Thread: Bonhoeffer

Would anyone be interested in participating in an online Book Club thread on Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "Cost of Discipleship"?

There are threads which address this issue.

We could read and discuss a chapter a week and align the reading with any intertextually cited scripture. Though he bases his book mostly on Matthew 5.

This would be a dream come true to reread and discuss this book with folks like you.

Pretty please?!?

I don't live in a town with a church that would be game to reading Bonhoeffer or even Spurgeon (the latter I read every night). They read all of the "prosperity gospel" malarkey like "The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" by John Maxwell.

Yuck! C'mon, saints! This book is absurd. Yet, I went to a church that did a book club study on this. I joined the book club, got three chapters into the book and was heartbroken.

If only I lived in a town with a church that cares about Discipleship. Yet, the motto of this church was "We Make Disciples". No, you make worldly leaders...big difference.

IssacharSon,

I will do that with you. Let me get a copy of his book. Do you know of one that is available online? If not, I will purchase one. He was a great Christian, I just disagree with him getting involved with a group to assasinate Hitler since Jesus taught non-resistance. But, I am willing to read his justifications about what brought him to this point. It should be very enlightening since we may face worse despots in the future and many may be tempted to do the same thing as Dietrich.

I think it is interesting that one of the worst deposts ever were the Caesars and there is no record of the early church conspiring with flesh and blood weapons.

Anyway, I am getting ahead of things and I should wait till we get to that part of the book. I hope the chapters are short if you want to do one per week. :-)

Maybe SI will make another category called "Book Club".

Pilgrim

If its alright I have already been reading this book but I can start over and join in the study with you both?

Look forward to hearing others insights.

God bless
maryjane

Ok, I am going to get a copy of the book.

Pilgrim

BrotherTom,

Watch what you regurgitate.

This would all seem very convincing if one accepts noncontextual criticism of literary work.

Taken all out of context, you are right!

If you've actually read Bonhoeffer's works, not so fast!

I found the sources of many of your citations above and Claim #4 in particular, is also referenced on a Fundamentalist website called "FundamentalBaptist Ministries.com"

And I have my paperback copy of Bonhoeffer's "Cost of Discipleship" open to "page 215" and it says nothing about the virgin birth.

If you have a copy of the book, pls open to page 215 and you will see that it immerses you into Chapter 24 entitled, "The Suffering of the Messengers" whereby, he gives a commentary on Matthew 10: 16-25

Our diverse interpretations of this man's life all the more necessitate a need to study his book.

Why don't you join me in a book study of "The Cost of Discipleship"?

Love-in-Christ,

KP

Wow!

You all are so awesome! The criticism I've read of Bonhoeffer via SI posts has ignited a desire to reread this book.

Thank you BrotherTom and Pilgrim777!

And MaryJane is in for a life changing experience that will not result in enhanced "personal piety" but rather, catapult one's understanding of Christ's teachings about true, authentic discipleship.

If you notice, MaryJane, Bonhoeffer opens each chapter (except chapter 1) with scripture. He puts Christ words before his own.

This book promotes spiritual maturity. An incidental benefit will be in clarifying and discounting the myriad of myths, surprisingly spread about a Christian and martyr with a controversial life.

Should we give everyone a week to respond to the Online Book Club and acquire the book (link to acquire book below):

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cost-Discipleship-Dietrich-Bonhoeffer/dp/0684815001

Should we start on Friday, 07/27/12 prepared to discuss the following?:

READING PASSAGE

I. Introduction (5 pages)
II. Chapter One: Costly Grace (pgs. 43 - 56)

DISCUSSION FORMAT

I. Discuss weekly posts to this thread (15 mins.)
I. Prepare/Share two (2) points of inquiry for the Club (30 mins.)
II. Prepare three (3) reflections on passage covered to share with Club (30 mins)

Yeah?

Is every Friday during a certain time convenient for everyone. Wouldn't it be great if we could meet live!?!

If not, what day and time could we meet up here to share the book?

This would be great!

Look forward to hesaring form you.

Love-in-Christ,

KP

QUOTE: "He was a great Christian, I just disagree with him getting involved with a group to assasinate Hitler,"==PILGRIM777

As it turns out, not really. He was actually a heretic, from what i have read of his writings and theology. And by heretic i mean that his CORE doctrines (on salvation) were a FALSE GOSPEL. My discovery of this made me quite sad, as he was quite heroic. While most other church people in Germany just sat and warmed the pews he was actually trying to do something to stop Hitler, trying to save lives, speaking out, etc. His whole family was heroic. Whether you disagree with what he did, he at least did SOMETHING.

The Cost of Discipleship
by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)\t

Note: This book begins with a "Memoir" by Gerhard Leibholz, Bonhoeffer's Christian brother-in-law [married to his twin-sister] who was part Jew, therefore condemned to death by Nazi law. Bonhoeffer drove his family to the Swiss border and safety.
Since everything that follows comes from Bonhoeffer's book (except for a few words in brackets), we have not used quotation marks. The numbers refer to pages in the 1963 paperback version published by Macmillan.
Bonhoeffer dared to criticize the politicized cultural "Christianity" of Hitler's Germany (primarily the unbiblical "religious" legalism, fomalism, and Nazi compromise). He was not, as some have said, a liberal Christian opposing genuine Christianity. Unfortunately, some English-speaking interpreters of his German letters have unjustly distorted his prison-letters and taken certain phrases -- such as "religionless christianity" -- out of context. To see his genuine love for the whole, unabridged Word of God, please see Life Together by Bonhoeffer
Together with Martin Niemoller and other founders of the Confessing Church, Bonhoeffer actively opposed both Hitler's National Socialism and the Nazi subjugation of churches. Bonhoffer was first arrested for helping Jews escape to Switzerland. He was executed by hanging at Flossenbürg concentration camp on April 9, 1945 shortly before its liberation. (See Trapped in Hitler's Hell and Day of No Return)

Memoir by Gerhard Leibholz
Bonhoeffer's closest friend and brother-in-law
When war seemed inevitable, Bonhoeffer’s friends abroad wanted him to leave Germany to save his life, for he was unalterably opposed to serving in the Army in an aggressive war.... In June 1939, American friends got him out of Germany. But soon he felt that he could not stay there, but that he had to return to his country. When he came to England on his return from the United States, his friends quickly realized that Bonhoeffer’s heart belonged to his oppressed and persecuted fellow Christians in Germany and that he would not desert them at a time when they needed him most.[16]
“I shall have no right,” Bonhoeffer wrote to Niebuhr before leaving America, “to 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 never regretted this decision, not even in prison, where he wrote in later years:
“I am sure of God’s hand and guidance... You must never doubt that I am thankful and glad to go the way which I am being led. My past life is abundantly full of God’s mercy, and, above all sin, standsthe forgiving love of the Crucified.”[16]
Bonhoeffer (together with his sister Christel and her husband, Hans von Dohnanyi) was arrested by the Gestapo in the house of his parents on April 5th, 1943. In prison and concentration camps, Bonhoeffer greatly inspired by his indomitable courage, his unselfishness and his goodness, all those who came in contact with him. He even inspired his guards with respect, some of whom became so much attached to him that they smuggled out of prison his papers and poems written there, and apologized to him for having to lock his door after the round in the courtyard.
His own concern in prison was to get permission to minister to the sick and to his fellow prisoners, and his ability to comfort the anxious and depressed was amazing. We know what Bonhoeffer’s word and religious assistance meant to his fellow prisoners, especially during their last hours (even to Molotov’s nephew Kokorin, who was imprisoned with Bonhoeffer in Büchenwald and to whom the teaching of Christ was brought home)...[17]
In his hearing before the Gestapo during his imprisonment, defenseless and powerless... only fortified by the word of God in his heart, he stood erect and unbroken before his tormentors. He refused to recant, and defied the Gestapo machine by openly admitting that, as a Christian, he was an implacable enemy of [Hitler's] National Socialism and its totalitarian demands toward the citizen—defied it, although he was continually threatened with torture and with the arrest of his parents, his sisters and his fiancée… In 1944, when friends made an attempt to liberate him and to take him to safety abroad, he decided to remain in prison in order not to endanger others.[26]
The last service which Dietrich Bonhoeffer held on the day before his death... 'moved all deeply...' Bonhoeffer, who was never tried, went steadfastly on his last way to be hanged, and died with admirable calmness and dignity.[26]

Both modern liberal theology and secular totalitarianism [fierce enemies to the Confessional Church that Bonhoeffer helped establish] hold pretty much in common that the message of the Bible has to be adaptedmore or less, to the requirements of a secular world. No wonder, therefore, that the process of debasing Christianity as by liberal theology led, in the long run, to a complete perversion and falsification of the essence of Christianity by National Socialism.[30]
...the Christian must be prepared, if necessary, to offer his life for this. Thus all kinds of secular totalitarianism which force man to cast aside his religious and moral obligations to God and subordinate the laws of justice and morality to the State are incompatible with his conception of [true Christian] life.[31]

Grace and Discipleship

Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks’ wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church’s inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing....[45]
Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian 'conception' of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins.... 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. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God.[45-46]
Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. 'All for sin could not atone.' Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin....
Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.[47]
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man’ will gladly go and self all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.
Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. 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. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.
Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. It is therefore the living word, the Word of God, which he speaks as it pleases him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus. It comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
On two separate occasions Peter received the call, “Follow me.” It was the first and last word Jesus spoke to his disciple (Mark 1.17; John 21.22). A whole life lies between these two calls. The first occasion was by the lake of Gennesareth, when Peter left his nets and his craft and followed Jesus at his word. The second occasion is when the Risen Lord finds him back again at his old trade. Once again it is by the lake of Gennesareth, and once again the call is: “Follow me.” Between the two calls lay a whole life of discipleship in the following of Christ. Half-way between them comes Peter's confession, when he acknowledged Jesus as the Christ of God....[48]

This grace was certainly not self-bestowed. It was the grace of Christ himself, now prevailing upon the disciple to leave all and follow him, now working in him that confession which to the world must sound like the ultimate blasphemy, now inviting Peter to the supreme fellowship of martyrdom for the Lord he had denied, and thereby forgiving him all his sins. In the life of Peter grace and discipleship are inseparable. He had received the grace which costs.[49]
As Christianity spread, and the Church became more secularized, this realization of the costliness of grace gradually faded. The world was Christianized, and grace became its common property. It was to be had at low cost.[49]

The Call to Discipleship

"The call goes forth, and is at once followed by the response of obedience. …. It displays not the slightest interest in the psychological reason for a man’s religious decisions. And why? For the simple reason that the cause behind the immediate following of call by response is Jesus Christ Himself.[61]
"Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ. It remains an abstract idea, a myth which has a place for the Fatherhood of God, but omits Christ as the living Son. … There is trust in God, but no following of Christ."[64]
"The disciple places himself at the Master’s disposal, but at the same time retains the right to dictate his own terms. But then discipleship is no longer discipleship, but a program of our own to be arranged to suit ourselves..."[66]

Discipleship and the Cross

Jesus Christ must suffer and be rejected. (Mark 8:31-38) This 'must' is inherent in the promise of God—the Scripture must be fulfilled. Here there is a distinction between suffering and rejection. Had He only suffered, Jesus might still have been applauded as the Messiah.[95]
Jesus is a rejected Messiah. His rejection robs the passion of its halo of glory. It must be a passion without honor. Suffering and rejection sum up the whole cross of Jesus. To die on the cross means to die despised and rejected of men. Suffering and rejection are laid upon Jesus as a divine necessity, and every attempt to prevent it is the work of the devil, especially when it comes from his own disciples; for it is in fact an attempt to prevent Christ from being Christ. (Peter in Matthew 16)
That shows how the very notion of a suffering Messiah was scandal to the Church. … Peter’s protest displays his own unwillingness to suffer and that means that Satan has gained entry into the Church, and is trying to tear it away from the cross of its Lord.
Jesus must therefore make it clear beyond all doubt that the "must" of suffering applies to his disciples no less than to himself. … Discipleship mean adherence to the person of Jesus, and therefore submission to the law of Christ which is the law of the cross.[96] [See John 15:20-21]
When Jesus begins to unfold this inescapable truth to His disciples, He once more sets them free to choose or reject Him. "If any man would come after me," He says. For it is not a matter of course, not even among the disciples. Nobody can be forced, nobody can even be expected to come. He says rather, "If any man" is prepared to spurn all other offers which come his way in order to follow Him. Once again, everything is left for the individual to decide….[96-97]
To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only Him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us. … All that self-denial can say is: "He leads the way, keep close to Him."
"…and take up his cross." … Only when we have become completely oblivious of self are we ready to bear the cross for His sake. If in the end we know only Him, if we have ceased to notice the pain of our own cross, we are indeed looking only unto Him. If Jesus had not so graciously prepared us for this word, we should have found it unbearable.[97]
To endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ. When it comes, it is not an accident, but a necessity. … the suffering which is an essential part of the specifically Christian life.
It is not suffering per se but suffering-and-rejection, and not rejection for any cause of conviction of our own, but rejection for the sake of Christ. If our Christianity has ceased to be serious about discipleship, if we have watered down the gospel into emotional uplift which makes no costly demands and which fails to distinguish between natural and Christian existence, then we cannot help regarding the cross as an ordinary everyday calamity… We have then forgotten that the cross means rejection and shame as well as suffering.
The Psalmist was lamenting that he was despised and rejected of men, and that is an essential quality of the suffering of the cross. But this notion has ceased to be intelligible to a Christianity which can no longer see any difference between an ordinary human life and life committed to Christ. The cross means sharing the suffering of Christ to the last and to the fullest.
Only a man thus totally committed in discipleship can experience the meaning of the cross. The cross is there, right from he beginning, he has only got to pick it up there is no need for him to go out and look for a cross for himself… Every Christian has his own cross waiting for him, a cross destined and appointed by God. Each must endure his allotted share of suffering and rejection.[98]
But each has a different share: some God deems worthy of the highest form of suffering, and given them the grace of martyrdom, while others He does not allow to be tempted above that they are able to bear….
The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. … we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with His death—we give over our lives to death. … When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die. …death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man [or nature] at his call. Jesus’ summons to the rich young man was calling him to die, because only the man who is dead to his own will can follow Christ. In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts. But we do not want to die…

The call to discipleship… means both death and life… [It] sets the Christian in the middle of the daily arena against sin and the devil. Every day he encounters new temptations, and every day he must suffer anew for Jesus Christ’s sake. The wounds and scars he receives in the fray are living tokens of this participation in the cross of his Lord.[99]
But there is another kind of suffering and shame which the Christian is not spared. While … only the sufferings of Christ are a means of atonement, yet since he has borne the sins of the whole world, the Christian also has to undergo temptation [and] bear the sins of others; he too must bear their shame and be driven like a scapegoat from the gates of the city. (Heb. 13:12-15) …The passion of Christ strengthens him to overcome the sins of others by forgiving them. "Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal. 6:2) …

Suffering then is the badge of true discipleship. The disciple is not above his master… That is why Luther reckoned suffering among the marks of the true Church… If we refuse to take up our cross and submit to suffering and rejection at the hands of men, we forfeit our fellowship with Christ and have ceased to follow Him. But if we lose our lives in His service and carry out cross, we shall find our lives again in the fellowship of the cross with Christ. The opposite of discipleship is to be ashamed of Christ and His cross and all the offense which the cross brings in its train.

Discipleship means allegiance to the suffering Christ… It is a joy and token of His grace. … Christ transfigures for His own [the early Christian martyrs] the hour of their moral agony by granting them the unspeakable assurance of His presence. In the hour of the cruelest torture they bear for His sake, they are made partakers in the perfect joy and bliss of fellowship with Him. To bear the cross proves to be the only way of triumphing over suffering. …
Jesus prays to His Father that the cup may pass from Him, and His Father hears His prayer; for the cup of suffering will indeed pass from Him—but only by His drinking it.[101]

God speaking to Luther: "Discipleship is not limited to what you can comprehend—it must transcend all comprehension. … Not to know where you are going is the true knowledge. My comprehension transcends yours. Thus Abraham went forth from His father… not knowing whither he went. … Behold, that is the way of the cross. You cannot find it yourself, so you must let me lead you as though you were a blind man. Wherefore it is not you, no man… but I myself, who instruct you by my Word and Spirit in the way you should go. Not the work which you choose, not the suffering you devise, but the road which is clean contrary to all you choose or contrive or desire—that is the road you must take. To that I call you and in that you must be my disciple."[103-104]

The Beatitudes
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Privation is the lot of the disciples in every sphere of their lives. They ... have no security, no possessions to call their own, not even a foot of earth to call their home, no earthly society to claim their absolute allegiance. ... For his sake they have lost all....
The Antichrist also calls the poor blessed, but not for the sake of the cross, which embraces all poverty and transforms it into a source of blessing. He fights the cross with political and sociological ideology. He may call it Christian, but that only makes him a still more dangerous enemy....[120]
“Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” With each beatitude the gulf is widened between the disciples and the people, their call to come forth from the people becomes increasingly manifest.... And so the disciples are strangers in the world, unwelcome guests and disturbers of the peace. No wonder the world rejects them! ... they bear their sorrow in the strength of him who bears them up, who bore the whole suffering of the world upon the cross.... The community of strangers find their comfort in the cross, they are comforted
by being cast upon the place where the Comforter of Israel awaits them. Thus do they find their true home with their crucified Lord, both here and in eternity.[121-122]
“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” This community of strangers possesses no inherent right of its own...nor do they claim such right for they are meek, the renounce every right of their own and live for the sake of Jesus Christ. When reproached, they hold their peace; when treated with violence they endure it patiently; when men drive them from their presence, they yield their ground. They will not go to law to defend their rights nor make a scene when they suffer injustice.

Their right is in the will of their Lord —that and no more. They show by every word and gesture that they do not belong to this earth.... But Jesus says: “they shall inherit the earth."[122-123]

“Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” Not only do the followers of Jesus renounce their rights, they renounce their own righteousness, too. They get no praise for their achievements or sacrifices.... [--for all the praise goes to our King!]
“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." Who is pure in heat? Only those who have surrendered their hearts completely to Jesus that He may reign in them alone....[125]
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” The followers of Jesus have been called to peace. When he called them they found their peace, for he is their peace.... But nowhere will that peace be more manifest than where they meet the wicked in peace and are ready to suffer at their hands. The peacemakers will carry the cross with their Lord, for it was on the cross that peace was made. Now that they are partners in Christ’s work of reconciliation, they are called the sons of God as he is the Son of God.[125-126]

“Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." ...The world will be offended at them and so the disciples will be persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Not recognition, but rejection, is the reward they get from the world for their message and works....[1275]
Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. “For My sake” the disciples are reproached, but because it is for His sake, the reproach falls on Him.
...while Jesus calls them blessed, the world cries: “Away with them, away with them!”
Yes, but whither? To the kingdom of heaven. “Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven.” There shall the poor be seen in the halls of joy.... God wipes away the tears from the eyes of those who had mourned upon earth. He feeds the hungry at his Banquet. There stand the scarred bodies of the martyrs, now glorified and clothed in the white robes of eternal righteousness instead of the rags of sin and repentance. The echoes of this joy reach the little flock below as it stands beneath the cross, and they hear Jesus saying: “Blessed are ye!”[128]
The Enemy--the "Extraordinary"
There were those who cursed them for undermining the faith and transgressing the law. There were those who hated them of leaving all they had for Jesus sake.... There were those who persecuted them as prospective dangerous revolutionaries and sought to the destroy them. Some of their enemies were numbered among the champions of the popular religion, who resented the exclusive claim of Jesus.[162-163]
The Hidden Righteousness
The life of discipleship can only be maintained as long as nothing is allowed to come between Christ and ourselves -- neither the law, nor personal piety, nor even the world. The discipline always look only to his master, never to Christ and the law, Christ and religion, Christ and the world. ... Only by following Christ alone can he preserve a single eye. ... Thus the heart of the disciple must be set upon Christ alone.[173-174]
The Body of Christ
The Son of God becomes man. The Word is made flesh. He who had existed from all eternity in the glory of the Father, he who in the beginning was the agent of creation (which means that the created world can be known only through him and in him), he who was very God (I Cor. 8.6; II Cor 8.9; Phil. 2.6 ff; Eph. 1.4; Col. 1.16; John 1.1 ff; Heb. 1.1 ff) accepts humanity by taking upon himself our human nature, 'sinful flesh' as the Bible calls it, and human form (Rom.8.3; Gal. 4.4; Phil. 2.6 if).
God takes humanity to himself... in the Body of Jesus. Of his mercy God sends his Son in the flesh, that therein he may bear the whole human race and bring it to himself. The Son of God takes to himself the whole human race bodily, that race which in its hatred of God, and in the pride of its flesh had rejected the incorporeal, invisible Word of God. Now this humanity, in all its weakness, is, by the mercy of God, taken up in the Body of Jesus in true bodily form."[264]
God sends his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom. 8.2 f). God sends his Son—here lies the only remedy. It is not enough to give man a new philosophy or a better religion. A Man comes to men.... The Incarnation, the words and acts of Jesus, his death on the cross, are all indispensable parts of that image.... Here is God made man." [340]
________________________________________
Note: Bonhoeffer was surrounded by lukewarm pastors and cultural "Christians" who supported Hitler. To most people in the established German Lutheran church, security and wealth had become more important that God's precious Word and faithfulness to Him.
In prison, Bonhoeffer was separated from those he who, like him, trusted God. Compromise was not an option, so He put all his trust in God. (Of course, so did Moses, Joseph, David, Paul and many others whosefaith deepened when totally separated unto God alone)
These Scriptures remind us of such tests and triumphs:
"...the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one." 1 John 5:19
"If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.... If they persecuted Me they will persecute you... for they do not know the One who sent Me." John 15:19-2
________________________________________
See also Bonhoeffer - Part 1: Nazi Religion versus "Religionless" Faith
God's Word: What the Bible Tells Us About Persecution
"Life Together" by Bonhoffer
Home | Victory

Brethren,

I hope that you will read the 3 posts that I have posted about Bonhoeffer and "the cost of discipleship" and that it will help clarify that this man was a " true disciple of Christ" who truly loved the Lord and His people.

Blessings...from brother rbanks

I have been thinking about studying Bonhoeffer that past couple of months, I know very little about him, and also would be interested in a book study

Well, I am looking forward to the Cost of Discipleship Book Club study. I'm sure there will be profitable things that come out of the study. Thanks rbanks for your posts. Those were shocking and extreme things that you brought up about him, BrotherTom. I think it surprised everyone. Where could these brothers find such information? The fact that you posted them must mean that you actually believe them, too.

I am not dissuaded in studying the book and even more intent on it. The fact that there is such diametric and polarizing opinions about this brother makes me want to investigate the matter on my own.

Pilgrim

I am glad to see the idea of a book club emerging in Sermon Index. As long as we understand we aren't reading scripture when we read these books, we should do fine.

Dietric Bonhoeffer, through his extensive writings, strikes me as simply a sincere 20th century man with more questions then answers, and as such is someone we can relate to. He was fueled by an empathy for modern man, whom he saw as experiencing an unprecendented sense of lostness, being disconnected from the past and facing an uncertain future. Placing upon himself tremendous intellectual, moral, and social burdens, and at home with academics and laypeople equally, he attempted to defend the relevancy of Christianity for Germany (and the world) during one of the greatest paradyme shifts in European history.

All of his writings, when taken together, leave me with a sense of deep intellectual integrity, but I must confess I ultimately find him hard to pin down on many issues. I think this is why he can be successfully quoted by groups as diverse as Conservative Evangelicals and Radical Marxists. Still, his mind was so keen that he could ask some of the most vitally important questions of his day, and turn a provocative phrase to challenge complacency, and for these reasons I have enjoyed reading him.

Given my own ambivilance towards Bonhoeffer's collected writings, how then do I approach his early book, "The Cost of Descipleship?"

Certainly his later years, during his time in prison, he seemed to press his theology to it's most worldy limits in an attempt to stay connected with the sorrowful human condition of the violent 20th century unfolding around him. Many people have zeroed in on this quote...“God is weak and powerless in the world, and that is exactly the way, the only way in which he can be with us and help us. Matthew 8:17 makes it crystal clear that it is not by his omnipotence that Christ helps us, but by his weakness and his suffering...only a suffering God can help.” (Bonhoeffer 1953 p. 164 Letters and Papers from Prison) For myself, this seems like the sincere efforts of a dispairing man to explain and even defend God's apparent silence during the dreadfully inhuman events going on all around him. Given the living nightmare he saw himself in, he can be forgiven if his Letters From Prison didn't quite sound like Pauls' letters from Prison; "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!"

Having said all of this, I think Dietric Bonhoeffer is worth studying. Even though I don't agree with many of his conclusions, I respect him as a better man then me...which is very challenging! I am intrigued by his ideas of a religionless Christiany, which has it's first stirrings in this book "The Cost of Discipleship." I think "religionless Christianity" is simply akin to Leo Toltoy's view that Christinaity is not a "Mystic Religion but (is) a New Theory of Life." Both men believed that Christianity was terribly misunderstood inside and outside the Church. Both men began with the shocking premise that the Sermon on the Mount is not an impossible ideal, but a new way of life where spirit meets the bone.

So, the key to reading and understanding what Bonhoffer was getting at in "The Cost of Descipleship" is to take the Sermon on the Mount literally, not mystically or ideally. His unblinking premise that a modern Christian lives a life of inward prayer and outward action without Bourgeoisie religous ceremony is what has inspired both conservatives and liberals alike to claim Bonhoffer as their own.

For myself, there is one chapter in particular of this book that I am particularly fond of...but I will leave that discussion for when this thread arrives at that point!

Blessings,

MC