The Cost Of Discipleship: Revised and Unabridged, containing material not previously published

Plot

The Cost of Discipleship is an exposition of what it means to truly follow Christ, and it is not exactly light reading. The book provides us the true meaning of grace, gives an interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), and explains what is required of followers of Christ. -- A Guest Reviewer at Amazon. com

From the book: "Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves... 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... Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.... It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."

From a second reviewer at Amazon. com: "Salvation is, for Bonhoeffer, a calling for righteousness rather than an invitation for propitiation. It is a calling for sinners to die daily until they reach physical death, yet while living they are only “invited” to imitate sufferings of Christ—denying themselves daily and taking up His cross daily. On 9 April 1945, he gave his last words before execution, “This is the end—for me the beginning of life,” but during his life Bonhoeffer also said, “Only he who believes is obedient and only he who is obedient believes” (69). He argues that since “the disciple is not above his master” suffering is a mandatory, if not actively voluntary (100). Thus his emphasis on voluntary suffering was an honorable duty for all Christians, and this makes his definition of salvation [redemption] almost a requirement for earthly missions before the heavenly union with Christ—namely, “costly grace” (45ff, 130f)."

He is a German theologian even though not quite a Lutheran. Instead, strong influence of Barth is visible from where he departs liberalism but adheres to neo-orthodox with an emphasis of living out faith. His focus on discipleship is a natural outcome of his anti-nominal—neo-orthodox—ecclesiastical—social-reforming—soteriology (61ff). Consequently for Bonhoeffer “faith” seems to lose its strong aspect of grace and gift because sinner have to choose to follow Christ through discipleship and faith becomes something other than given freely from God as gift, but strict choice of man (cf., 66f). As the church throughout its history struggled balancing between purity and unity Bonhoeffer seems to have trouble reconciling between his anthropology and soteriology; on the one hand he condemns sinners but on the other hand he calls for their active participation in salvation process. It seems the only possible way to succeed in this process is partaking with Christ, but Bonhoeffer almost sounds like a sacrametalist, if not ritualist, when he tells that is only possible through baptism and Lord’s Supper (267).