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Summary: This book changed my life and could do the same for you...
Review: Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book "The Cost of Discipleship" is a tremendously inspiring, motivational, and insightful look into what Christian discipleship is all about. Bonhoeffer, who wrote the book in the midst of struggling to stand up against the evils of Nazi Germany in the 1940's, provides the reader with a transformational look into Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and what it means to us as believers today.If you are not inspired and given food for thought and prayer about your journey with God after reading this book, then check your pulse! His message, like the message of the Gospels, when truthfully proclamied, is not easy to hear. He writes something to the effect of "When Christ calls a [person] he bids them to come and die...that they might gain new life." That is the radical message of Christian discipleship in a nutshell- Christ calls us to give our ALL for Him. The first step of discipleship is putting Christ first, and following- no matter what the cost may be. For Bonhoeffer, his faith cost him his life. He was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp for his open opposition to the tyrrany of Nazism, where he died helping others at the age of 39. If you have not done so already- READ THIS BOOK- it WILL change your life! Or should I say that through this book Bonhoeffer's witness to the transformational power of Christ will change your life.
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Summary: This book changed my life and could do the same for you...
Review: Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book "The Cost of Discipleship" is a tremendously inspiring, motivational, and insightful look into what Christian discipleship is all about. Bonhoeffer, who wrote the book in the midst of struggling to stand up against the evils of Nazi Germany in the 1940's, provides the reader with a transformational look into Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and what it means to us as believers today. If you are not inspired and given food for thought and prayer about your journey with God after reading this book, then check your pulse! His message, like the message of the Gospels, when truthfully proclamied, is not easy to hear. He writes something to the effect of "When Christ calls a [person] he bids them to come and die...that they might gain new life." That is the radical message of Christian discipleship in a nutshell- Christ calls us to give our ALL for Him. The first step of discipleship is putting Christ first, and following- no matter what the cost may be. For Bonhoeffer, his faith cost him his life. He was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp for his open opposition to the tyrrany of Nazism, where he died helping others at the age of 39. If you have not done so already- READ THIS BOOK- it WILL change your life! Or should I say that through this book Bonhoeffer's witness to the transformational power of Christ will change your life.
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Summary: Cheap Grace and Difficult Choices
Review: Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship explores the challenges of embracing the gospel theme of sacrifice. In a direct, sometimes harsh assessment, he points up the difficulty of actually living a creed which embraces sacrifice of the individual believer called to task by the divine. The phrase "cheap grace" remains the watch-phrase of the work. "Cheap grace" refers to the counterfeit self-acceptance the would-be believer experiences, and is discussed in sharp contrast to the genuine experience caused by the demands of the Christian faith. Bonhoeffer cautions us against 'easy religion' and mere emotive response to the Christian message. He portrays Christian life as demanding unflinching self-awareness and struggle, culiminating in surrender. In later writings, Bonhoeffer himself modified the viewpoints he set forth in the Cost of Discipleship. An argument can be made that the work's stringent tone fails to convey the richness of the Christian life to which his book seeks to call adherents. Nonetheless, Bonhoeffer's construct of "cheap grace" serves as a useful metaphor in a time in which materialism, inequity, and disconnection plague us. We may not choose Pastor Bonhoeffer's iron-clad distinctions as to what constitutes authentic spiritual experience, but we will not easily forget his call to embrace the genuine, and not merely counterfeit assuaged feelings for genuine spiritual experience. Although this is a work of theology accessible to most readers, it is never patronizing in tone. Although one would have only a limited vision of Bonhoeffer's work if one read only the Cost of Discipleship, this is an excellent first Bonhoeffer book to read. The Cost of Discipleship is not a radical work, but rather a work of then-mainstream Christianity intended to provoke the reader into action. Even if one cannot reach all of Bonhoeffer's conclusions, and even if one does not share Bonhoeffer's theology, the inquiry is certainly worth undertaking.
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Summary: aaaThe antithesis to american fundamentalist 'christianity".
Review: Dietrich Bonhoeffer's demanding book is mandantory for any professing christian{i think he would sqirm at that term.}The idea that one would be "saved" simply by saying so is repugnant to one who saw what was coming.Read some popular "religious" christian literature,then read Bonhoeffer.You will realize that he is speaking of a completely different faith,never mind religion.No fuzzy new-age garbage here.I cannot imagine an adult who would not be troubled by Bonhoeffer,for there seems to be no distinction between what he said, and what he did.Would that be true for all.
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Summary: A Masterwork by a Brave Man
Review: Dietrich Bonhoeffer's writings as a theologian are masterful, but seem almost miniscule beside his actions as a man. He could have left Germany during World War II, and resided in a safe haven abroad. He had the personal connections through his work. But he decided to stay, as the foreword of this book outlines. He decided to stay and confront the demons that possessed the country. He ended up sacrificing his life. This book gives us a powerful level of insight into one human being and his religion. It opens up questions in our own minds about religion and what it means to each of us. And it asks us, can you do more to serve Christ?
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Summary: If you want to follow Jesus, this will challenge you
Review: 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.
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Summary: Read this book over and over again until the day you die....
Review: HEAVY DUTY. Sadly, Bonhoeffer describes a Christian life that is totally foreign to me in the depth of that life's total devotion to the person of Jesus Christ. I am mesmerized by his compelling scholarship, and my spirit is in total agreement with his conclusions. I have never read such an in-depth, personalized treatise on the Sermon on the Mount. This book is a new addition to the few titles I have on my "read this book over and over again until the day you die" bookshelf. TRUE MEAT that will feed you and nourish you over and over again. An eye-opening, siren call to my soul for it's complete capitulation and abandonment to my Maker.
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Summary: We Catholics better read this book
Review: I agree with all of the praise that the other reviewers heap upon this book. I would just like to add two points: first Bonhoeffer is deeply conservative and his appropriation by liberal theologians of the sixties rests on a serious misreading of him. He reiterates the Lutheran insight that works flow from grace--he is not a "liberation"theologian and he died at Flossenburg because his he had been given "costly grace" not because he was a "decent man" or felt that "he" had to help his fellow man--that is idolatry. Second point: we Catholics ignore this insight at our peril. Working for the poor avails us nothing if it is done out of "kindness" or decency--all ethics for Bonhoeffer--in so far as that word has any meaning for him are supernatural and must flow from Christ the center. My confession has only two writers who stress this: Augustine and Pascal-- and we tend to ignore them. Working in a soup kitchen avails us nothing if it is purely a "work". Bonhoeffer did not merit salvation because he resisted Hitler, rather as I said he resisted Hitler because of the costly grace visited upon him and that grace is what is salvific. We Catholics could do with more Bonhoeffer--otherwise we lapse into an "I can do it by myself" pelagianism or an "all I need is a push" semi-pelagianism.
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Summary: Why did Jesus die for you?
Review: I agree with the others who have praised this book; even their minor criticisms I share. I have read it through very carefully twice (once in my 30's; later in my 50's) and have moderated a Sunday School discussion class who took on Bonhoeffer and read him very carefully and critically against the Bible. Bonhoeffer (who, amazingly, wrote this book at age 31) did his Lord proud. This is not an easy book to read. It is meat, not milk. Yes, you do have to be a saint, i.e. a believer, i.e. a disciple in order to be a Christian. Having faith means being faithful. Having faith means bearing fruit. Having faith means being a disciple. Calling Jesus, "Lord" means obeying Him. Jesus, not Bonhoeffer, not the RC Church nor Luther nor Calvin nor whoever else may "speak to you" is the One Who says, "Take up your cross and follow me." Pastor Bonhoeffer leads the reader through some fairly profound meditations on discipleship. One does not simply read this book as though it were a magazine story; he must read and re-read and re-read again passage after passage as he works his way through it. If you are quite comfortable in knowing you are "saved by grace through faith," and freed from the tyranny of the works of the flesh and the Law, wonderful. But ask yourself whether Jesus suffered and died on the cross just so you could be comfortable in your "faith." If it occurs to you that there may be more to faith than creeds, confessions, and church attendance, that you were given the gift - and gifts - of the Spirit for some purpose other than as a voucher for your personal ticket to Heaven, you may find this book very helpful. In any event, should you read it, it will challenge you in many marvellous ways. It is quite difficult, I think, to fully appreciate what the man wrote without understanding and contemplating what was going on (and eventually transpired) in his life, church, country, and world. Thus, I recommend that anyone who reads this learn as much about these other things as he reasonably can, for which purpose there are many options, including books, articles, and films on video and DVD.
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Summary: i wont see This book
Review: I am student and i wont know this book is good or no
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