Christ the Center (Harper's Ministers Paperback Library)

Rating:
Summary: The great German theologian puts first things first
Review: After seminary taught me how to dissect the Bible and faith, this pre-WWII work by the disciple of "costly grace" helped me put it back together. It is thoroughly academic, and it is unswerving in its insistence that questions of Biblical criticism cannot be placed before and above the question of our relationship to Christ. When Christ is the center, the world looks different than we arrogantly thought it would when looking from the outside in.

Rating:
Summary: The great German theologian puts first things first
Review: After seminary taught me how to dissect the Bible and faith, this pre-WWII work by the disciple of "costly grace" helped me put it back together. It is thoroughly academic, and it is unswerving in its insistence that questions of Biblical criticism cannot be placed before and above the question of our relationship to Christ. When Christ is the center, the world looks different than we arrogantly thought it would when looking from the outside in.

Rating:
Summary: Who?
Review: In his book (lecture), Christ the Center, the great German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer seeks to show a Christology that emphasizes a new angle from which to view Christ, while keeping Christ at the center of all consideration and study. For Bonhoeffer, the key to the new understanding of Christ is to change from asking "How" he is what he is to asking "Who" he is. The decisive question is always; Who is Christ? In Mark 8:29 Jesus asks this crucial question to his disciples. The asking the 'who' question rather than the 'how' moves Christ closer to the center. Bonhoeffer's theology radiates from Christ at the center. Christ can be found in the Word (logos), in the sacraments and members of the church, and is also the mediator of all earthly existence and history. Christ is always the center, and the only center. Bonhoeffer's style is very German. I found the book in places to be superfluously worded, a bit erudite, and dogmatic. I felt he used the "proof by repeated assertion" method to make his point. I agree with his suggestion to view Christ from different perspectives, breaking down the barriers that some views might impose. Still, I feel that when all "who" questions are asked, we still come around to needing to ask the "how" questions. It can not be avoided in a post-Enlightenment, scientific thinking world. I feel the need to ask 'how'" the "who" will answer all my question. Maybe it is just the semantics that confused me.

Rating:
Summary: Cost of Discipleship
Review: This is an amazing book which will challenge the way you think about Christianity. Bonhoeffer brings up issues of grace, faith, and obiedence which will compel anyone to reflect on their faith in Jesus Christ. It is a wonderful and intellectual book for anyone who wants to know what REAL Christianity is.

Rating:
Summary: Cost of Discipleship
Review: This is an amazing book which will challenge the way you think about Christianity. Bonhoeffer brings up issues of grace, faith, and obiedence which will compel anyone to reflect on their faith in Jesus Christ. It is a wonderful and intellectual book for anyone who wants to know what REAL Christianity is.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent exposition of Jesus as the center of all.
Review: This is not a book for the ordinary seeker after truth. It is much too philosophical, more for graduate school exercises in religious thought.