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The Cost Of Discipleship


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The Cost of Discipleship

 
 
Average Rating:    out of 87 Reviews
Price: $15.00
Sale: $8.79
 
Manufacturer: Touchstone
EAN (European Article Number): 9780684815008
Number of Items: 1
 
 
Binding: Paperback
Author: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Publisher: Touchstone
Edition: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 241.53
Publication Date: 1995-09-01
Reading Level: 320
 
 
Description: "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." With these words, in The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer gave powerful voice to the millions of Christians who believe personal sacrifice is an essential component of faith. Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor and theologian, was an exemplar of sacrificial faith: he opposed the Nazis from the first and was eventually imprisoned in Buchenwald and hung by the Gestapo in 1945. The Cost of Discipleship, first published in German in 1937, was Bonhoeffer's answer to the questions, "What did Jesus mean to say to us? What is his will for us to-day?" Bonhoeffer's answers are rooted in Lutheran grace and derived from Christian scripture (almost a third of the book consists of an extended meditation on the Sermon on the Mount). The book builds to a stunning conclusion: its closing chapter, "The Image of Christ," describes the believer's spiritual life as participation in Christ's incarnation, with a rare and epigrammatic confidence: "Through fellowship and communion with the incarnate Lord," Bonhoeffer writes, "we recover our true humanity, and at the same time we are delivered from that individualism which is the consequence of sin, and retrieve our solidarity with the whole human race." --Michael Joseph Gross
 
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Review Summary: Cheap grace - same old heresy it always was Date: 2008-08-12
 
Details: It is enlightening and encouraging that such a book could be penned by one of the great Lutherans of the 20th century. It goes counter to the common understanding of what is meant by "faith alone" among many Christians from Protestant traditions. Faith alone cannot be confused with what Bonhoeffer called "easy believism." If it is, then it is really no faith at all. The apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, uses the words obedience and faith as if synonymous (see Romans 1:5 and 16:26) . Faith alone that does not necessarily involve obedience is no faith at all - and so even the great Catholic theologian now Pope, Josef Ratzinger, can admire and quote the great Lutheran, Bonhoeffer as an example for all Christians. One is also reminded of a like mind in the American Evangelical, A. W. Tozer and his great work, I Call It Heresy. Given the works of Protestants such as Bonhoeffer and Tozer, one has to beg the question, why do we remain divided over "faith alone?" The differences are likely not so great as we might think. By the definition of "faith" provided by St. Paul, Bonhoeffer, and Tozer, one might include that Catholics and these Protestants agree that salvation is indeed by such "faith alone." Anything less is simply the same old heresy.
 
Review Summary: Christianity without cost doesn't exist! Date: 2008-06-23
 
Details: A Christian classic, The Cost of Discipleship is filled with countless gems of wisdom that run counter to the prevailing winds today that market the Christian life as one of ease and comfort. The book is not an easy read, but it is an encouraging and is probably more valuable for Christians today than even during Bonhoeffer's own time. The book is more than a call to costly discipleship, Bonhoeffer also dives into the Sermon on the Mount giving incredible insight in to the teachings of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew and also various aspects of the Christian life and the role of the Church. But the first couple of chapters of the book are worth the entire read. Bonhoeffer's radical discipleship can probably best be summarized in his famous line, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." We see far too little of Bonhoeffer's commitment and dedication to the denial of self, taking up one's cross and following Christ...The Cost of Discipleship reminds those who follow Christ that sharing in His sufferings is the mark of a believer!
 
Review Summary: "The Cost of Discipleship" - Relevant as Ever Date: 2008-05-27
 
Details: If Bonhoeffer were alive today and commenting on the American Church of 2008 instead of the German Church of the 1930s, all he would have to add is an appendix on the ascendancy of entertainment. Nothing -- nothing -- else would have to change. His scathing review of the complacency and spiritual poverty of the average Christian points a relevant finger at all of us, especially evangelicals who call themselves followers of The Way and live like followers of their appetites.
 
Review Summary: A manifesto of love from the beyond Date: 2008-05-24
 
Details: Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "The Cost of Discipleship" is the kind of book so fundamental to the daily challenges of our lives as followers of Christ that one might compare it to cold water in the long, winding desert of 21st century civilization.

Bonhoeffer knew that very few Christians actually knew what it meant to claim allegiance to God, or to Christian values: how unforgivingly opposed the world has been and always will be to true Christianity.
After all, it rejects social mores and the tenets of the world for selfless love, which seems unnatural on the face of it. His distinction between Cheap Grace and Costly Grace is perhaps the most vital part of the book, though the whole text is necessary down to the last letter. Being a Christian means sharing in Christ's life, not attending Church once or twice a week: it means opposing institutional evil--as Bonhoeffer did at the cost of his own basic human needs and eventually his own life in Nazi Germany--right down to one's last breath. This does not mean that the Christian can never have joy or relaxation, of course; it simply means that Christ's edict of love takes place over all else. The person new to theology may want to start with something else, however, as Bonhoeffer is speaking to those who have reached the point of Christ being pretty much the center of their lives. There's nothing that can be said about Bonhoeffer or this book which would match what it holds between it's covers. A must, must read!
 
Review Summary: skipping? Date: 2008-04-20
 
Details: If you're looking to skip out on reading the real book, this is for you. But I recommend reading the real thing, not the short notes.
 
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