The Cost of Discipleship

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Simon and Schuster, 1995 - Philosophy - 316 pages

NEW FOREWORD BY ERIC METAXAS

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the most important theologians of the twentieth century, illuminates the relationship between ourselves and the teachings of Jesus in this classic book on living as a Christian.

What can the call to discipleship, the adherence to the word of Jesus, mean today to the businessman, the soldier, the laborer, or the government worker? What did Jesus mean to say to us? What is his will for us today? Drawing on the Sermon on the Mount, Dietrich Bonhoeffer answers these timeless questions by providing a seminal reading of the dichotomy between "cheap grace" and "costly grace." "Cheap grace," Bonhoeffer wrote, "is the grace we bestow on ourselves...grace without discipleship....Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the girl which must be asked for, the door at which a man must know....It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."

The Cost of Discipleship is a compelling statement of the demands of sacrifice and ethical consistency from a man whose life and thought were exemplary articulations of a new type of leadership inspired by the Gospel, and imbued with the spirit of Christian humanism and a creative sense of civic duty.

Contents

• New Foreword by Eric Metaxas: 5
• Memoir by G Leibholz: 14
• Introduction: 35
• GRACE AND DISCIPLESHIP: 41
• Costly Grace: 43
• The Call to Discipleship: 57
• SingleMinded Obedience: 79
• Contents: 84
• Discipleship and the Cross: 86
• Discipleship and the Individual: 94
• THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT: 103
• The Beatitudes: 105
• The Visible Community: 115
• The Righteousness of Christ: 120
• The Brother: 126
• Woman: 131
• Truthfulness: 135
• Revenge: 140
• The Enemythe Extraordinary: 146
• Of the Hidden Character of the Christian Life: 152
• The Hidden Righteousness: 155
• The Hiddenness of Prayer: 162
• The Hiddenness of the Devout Life: 169
• The Simplicity of the Carefree Life: 173
• The Separation of the Disciple Community 18 The Disciple and Unbelievers: 182
• The Great Divide: 189
• The Conclusion: 196
• THE MESSENGERS: 199
• The Harvest: 201
• The Apostles: 204
• The Work: 206
• The Suffering of the Messengers: 213
• The Decision: 217
• The Fruit: 220
• THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE LIFE OF DISCIPLESHIP: 223
• Preliminary Questions: 225
• Baptism: 229
• The Body of Christ: 236
• The Visible Community: 248
• The Saints: 272
• The Image of Christ: 298
• Index of Subjects: 305
• Index of Biblical References: 309

About the author

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in Breslau in 1906. The son of a famous German psychiatrist, he studied in Berlin and New York City. He left the safety of America to return to Germany and continue his public repudiation of the Nazis, which led to his arrest in 1943. Linked to the group of conspirators whose attempted assassination of Hitler failed, he was hanged in April 1945. ERIC METAXAS is an author whose books have been translated into twenty-five languages. The host of a nationally syndicated radio show and the acclaimed conversation series Socrates in the City, he is a prominent cultural commentator whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, The Atlantic, and the Wall Street Journal. He lives with his family in New York City.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Cost of Discipleship
• Author: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Simon and Schuster, 1995
• ISBN: 0684815001, 9780684815008
• Length: 316 pages
• Subjects: Philosophy / Religious; Religion / Christian Living / General; Religion / Christian Living / Spiritual Growth; Religion / Christian Ministry / Discipleship; Religion / Christian Theology / Christology; Religion / Christian Theology / Ethics & Moral Teaching; Religion / Christian Theology / General; Religion / Christian Theology / History; Religion / General