R. H. FULLER (TRANSLATOR) DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
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Product: Book
ISBN-10: 0-334-00259-1
ISBN-13: 9780334002598
Publisher: SCM PRESS
Country:
Year: 1959
Number of pages: 288
Weight: 503gr
Binding: Paperback
ISBN-10: 0-334-00259-1
ISBN-13: 9780334002598
Publisher: SCM PRESS
Country:
Year: 1959
Number of pages: 288
Weight: 503gr
Binding: Paperback
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Cheap grace – same old heresy it always was 
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.
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.
a Christian classic …
This book by a German pastor, martyred by the Nazis shortly before the end of WWII, is deeply disturbing to anyone's thoughts that grace is cheap and easy. A tough read, but worth it.
This book by a German pastor, martyred by the Nazis shortly before the end of WWII, is deeply disturbing to anyone's thoughts that grace is cheap and easy. A tough read, but worth it.
3 1/2 Stars … Before the Crucible 
Years ago, I discovered Bonhoeffer through his rich and tested »Letters and Papers from Prison.« He gave theological insights that were the flesh and meat of real-life experience, having faced imprisonment and eventual execution at the hands of the Nazis. I picked up »The Cost of Discipleship« and expected to find Bonhoeffer's same sort of humbled yet strong, tested and true, faith. Instead, I found a ponderous volume of theological concepts (and I do agree with most of what he says here) that were penned before Bonhoeffer's ideas were purified by true fire. This doesn't undermine their value at all. In fact, I know that he was addressing many errors, including »cheap grace,« that had plagued the Lutheran Church in Germany. He was wrestling through some of these fallacies, dialoguing with Karl Barth and other contemporaries, and boldly taking a stance that was necessary, vital, and that still remains ignored by many of his denomination today. For me, the problem as a reader in 2009 is that the writing itself is pedantic and plodding. The truths, although dredged from Scripture, are presented in a way that sounds more moralizing, without the biblical bases always being explored in full. And there is little actual application to real life. This is where »The Letters and Papers … « makes a huge leap forward, feeling like gritty faith worked out in its most terrible crucible. »The Cost of Discipleship« seems to be more a seminal, yet dated, correction to the errors of religion in pre-WWII Germany. Is this worth reading for personal growth and exhortation? Certainly. Is it still valid as a correcting agent in the mire of stuffy religion? Yes. But will it reach the average believer with truths that apply to daily life and seem to come from a place we can relate to? For me, the answer is no.
Years ago, I discovered Bonhoeffer through his rich and tested »Letters and Papers from Prison.« He gave theological insights that were the flesh and meat of real-life experience, having faced imprisonment and eventual execution at the hands of the Nazis. I picked up »The Cost of Discipleship« and expected to find Bonhoeffer's same sort of humbled yet strong, tested and true, faith. Instead, I found a ponderous volume of theological concepts (and I do agree with most of what he says here) that were penned before Bonhoeffer's ideas were purified by true fire. This doesn't undermine their value at all. In fact, I know that he was addressing many errors, including »cheap grace,« that had plagued the Lutheran Church in Germany. He was wrestling through some of these fallacies, dialoguing with Karl Barth and other contemporaries, and boldly taking a stance that was necessary, vital, and that still remains ignored by many of his denomination today. For me, the problem as a reader in 2009 is that the writing itself is pedantic and plodding. The truths, although dredged from Scripture, are presented in a way that sounds more moralizing, without the biblical bases always being explored in full. And there is little actual application to real life. This is where »The Letters and Papers … « makes a huge leap forward, feeling like gritty faith worked out in its most terrible crucible. »The Cost of Discipleship« seems to be more a seminal, yet dated, correction to the errors of religion in pre-WWII Germany. Is this worth reading for personal growth and exhortation? Certainly. Is it still valid as a correcting agent in the mire of stuffy religion? Yes. But will it reach the average believer with truths that apply to daily life and seem to come from a place we can relate to? For me, the answer is no.
Excellent book in a nice, affordable edition
This classic, famous book by this premiere twentieth-century theologian is in a readable, affordable edition. A great purchase.
This classic, famous book by this premiere twentieth-century theologian is in a readable, affordable edition. A great purchase.
Not the Best Place to Start a Worthwhile Study of Bonhoeffer 
Dietrich Bonhoeffer is without question a hero of the Christian Faith, and one would be well served to study his thoughts, theology, commitment and example. But this is probabaly not the place to start, for two reasons. (1) The writing style of this book is badly outdated and hard to follow and understand. This book badly needs an editor to put Bonhoeffer's thoughts into more modern prose. This book, as it is, is a difficult and at times convoluted read. A new updated editon is badly needed. (2)Secondly, and more importantly, this book is early Bonhoeffer,full of didactic thought, at times morally pompus. A better place to start a study of Bonhoeffer might be his last work, »Letters from Prison … « written at the end of his life. this work is the more seasoned, more mature Bonhoeffer, a man who has seen to some the degree the mistakes and folly of his earlier thinking. Case in point: In this work, Bonhoeffer says to be a disciple a man must separate himself from the everyday living of life. In the later book, »Letters from Prison,« he writes, it is »only by living completely in the world that one learns to have faith … « He says he stands by his earlier book because he wrote it, it is his work, but he makes it clear that if he had it to do over again, his thought would be different and he would express himself in a way much more understanding of the world in which we live. For that reason, »Letters From Prison … « would be the best place to get the complete, aged and wise Bonhoeffer.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer is without question a hero of the Christian Faith, and one would be well served to study his thoughts, theology, commitment and example. But this is probabaly not the place to start, for two reasons. (1) The writing style of this book is badly outdated and hard to follow and understand. This book badly needs an editor to put Bonhoeffer's thoughts into more modern prose. This book, as it is, is a difficult and at times convoluted read. A new updated editon is badly needed. (2)Secondly, and more importantly, this book is early Bonhoeffer,full of didactic thought, at times morally pompus. A better place to start a study of Bonhoeffer might be his last work, »Letters from Prison … « written at the end of his life. this work is the more seasoned, more mature Bonhoeffer, a man who has seen to some the degree the mistakes and folly of his earlier thinking. Case in point: In this work, Bonhoeffer says to be a disciple a man must separate himself from the everyday living of life. In the later book, »Letters from Prison,« he writes, it is »only by living completely in the world that one learns to have faith … « He says he stands by his earlier book because he wrote it, it is his work, but he makes it clear that if he had it to do over again, his thought would be different and he would express himself in a way much more understanding of the world in which we live. For that reason, »Letters From Prison … « would be the best place to get the complete, aged and wise Bonhoeffer.
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Augsburg Fortress Publishers; 1974
Paperback
© 1994–2010 Sascha Hendel
last update: 3/19/2010
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