Books & Bibles
Entertainment
Fashion & Jewelry
Gifts & Giving
Home Decor & Accents
Kitchen & Gourmet
Beauty & Health
Specialty Stores
Exclusive Technology!
Search
Special Features
For President's Day!
Super Hot Buy!
Save 86%
Safe & Toxin-Free
Intuitive Skincare
|
|
|
|
|
The Cost of Discipleship
| Our Price |
$ 23.18
|
|
| Retail Value |
$ 28.98 |
|
| You Save |
$ 5.80 (20%) |
|
| Item Number |
477224 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Item Description...
Outline Review
"When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." With these words, in The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer gave powerful voice to the millions of Christians who believe personal sacrifice is an essential component of faith. Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor and theologian, was an exemplar of sacrificial faith: he opposed the Nazis from the first and was eventually imprisoned in Buchenwald and hung by the Gestapo in 1945. The Cost of Discipleship, first published in German in 1937, was Bonhoeffer's answer to the questions, "What did Jesus mean to say to us? What is his will for us to-day?" Bonhoeffer's answers are rooted in Lutheran grace and derived from Christian scripture (almost a third of the book consists of an extended meditation on the Sermon on the Mount). The book builds to a stunning conclusion: its closing chapter, "The Image of Christ," describes the believer's spiritual life as participation in Christ's incarnation, with a rare and epigrammatic confidence: "Through fellowship and communion with the incarnate Lord," Bonhoeffer writes, "we recover our true humanity, and at the same time we are delivered from that individualism which is the consequence of sin, and retrieve our solidarity with the whole human race." --Michael Joseph Gross
Product Description
Before his arrest by the Nazis in 1943, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was head of a seminary of the German Confessing Church. In "The Cost of Discipleship", he focuses on the most treasured part of Christ's teaching, the Sermon on the Mount.
|
Item Specifications...
Dimensions: Length: 6.2" Width: 4.98" Height: 0.79"
Weight: 0.37 lbs.
Binding CD
Release Date Mar 1, 2009
Publisher HOV
ISBN 1596446684
EAN 9781596446687
|
Availability 11 units.
Availability accurate as of Feb 13, 2012 04:20.
Usually ships within one to two business days from Johnson City, TN.
Orders shipping to an address other than a confirmed Credit Card / Paypal Billing address may incur and additional processing delay.
|
Product Categories
Similar Products
Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | I feel like the only Christian ever to dislike this book May 27, 2010 |
I just don't see the appeal of this book. In the opening pages, Bonhoeffer introduces readers to the idea that grace is free but not cheap, and following Jesus is an all-consuming choice that involves a Christian's entire life. Which is important, and true, and something that should be established early. From there, though, Bonhoeffer writes for chapter after chapter in a style that at times is academic to a point of incomprehensibility and at times simple enough that his exegetical efforts amount to simple rewordings of the texts. I did receive some benefit from reading and pondering small sections of the Sermon on the Mount (I read this book in small increments, like a devotional), but all of the value came from Jesus' words, not Bonhoeffer's. I recognize that this book has great historical value, and many of today's great authors have read and cherished it, but I feel like I wasted hours of my life by reading anything beyond the introductory chapters.
Also, I have not completely made up my mind on whether or not a Christian should have been involved in an attempt to assassinate Hitler. Bonhoeffer never mentions his involvement in this book, though, and it makes his chapters on overcoming evil with radical peace and the love of Christ.. incomplete, at best, and dishonest at worst. I don't have a perfect timeline of Bonhoeffer's life, so maybe this book was written before his involvement in any attempt on someone else's life, but the peace chapters are still unconvincing when the reader knows that Bonhoeffer's life did not match his teachings (which nowhere indicate that an exception can be made to justify Bonhoeffer's attempt).
Ultimately, I am left holding this book and reflecting on inartful academic phrasings that I don't understand, simple exegesis that isn't remarkable enough to invite agreement or disagreement on my part, and exhortations to a life of radical peace that I know the author himself did not live. I am thankful for the positive impact this book has had on writers, thinkers, and other Christians over the years, but it had no positive impact whatsoever on me. | | |  | The Cost Of Discipleship May 22, 2010 |
One of the opening lines in Cost Of Discipleship reads "Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church. We are fighting today for costly grace." Such is the book's theme.
The title is around 300 pages contains the major areas:
1. Grace And Discipleship.
2. The Sermon On The Mount.
3. The Messengers.
4. The Church Of Jesus Christ And The Life Of Discipleship.
Bonhoeffer makes many good points and speaks with moral authority - he was executed for his faith by Nazi Germany just days before World War 2 ended.
However, I agree with an earlier reviewer concerning the writing style. At times the writing was hard to follow and an updated version (as with other Christian classics) would be great.
Still, a good read. Be challenged and encouraged!
Recommended. | | |  | Great reminder of what it is to be a Christian Apr 5, 2010 |
| This is the 2nd time I have read this in the last 5 years and it is once again an important reminder of what it means to follow Christ. Very well written it lays out a great case for active decipleship in our world. | | |  | Maestro Bonhoeffer Feb 8, 2010 |
Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship explores the challenges of embracing the gospel theme of sacrifice. His message, like the message of the Gospels, 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." 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. Like a strict drill instructor in boot camp, his abrupt manner is designed to hit you in the face with your own (and his) inadequacies until you break. He intends with this treatment to save the reader's neck once one makes it to the front lines. His goal is to ensure the survival of your soul through salvation.
The book begins with a section entitled The Call to Discipleship. Each step of the way Bonhoeffer sets up a test, a test that this reader invariably fails each step of the way. 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, culminating in surrender. 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. He simply lays it on the line for the reader to either accept or reject. But he backs up his challenges with solid biblical research and great passion ... not to mention his own personal living example.
Please visit my website, Delight In Him, for more. | | | | A "Must Read" for every Christian! Nov 25, 2009 |
For anyone wanting a great challenge to break free from the ho-hum of cultural Christianity, this book is for you! Bonhoeffer is one of those modern day theologians Christians can really look up to and learn from. In the Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer writes about grace, our call to discipleship, and what obedience to Christ should look like. He then goes through the Sermon on the Mount and seeks to unravel this all-important text so that today's Christians can better understand the words of Christ and put them into practice.
What many people fail to realize is that Christ did not just come to earth to save people, He came to teach people how to truly live! Bonhoeffer is one who realized this fact and he sought to live out this truth in his life. He wrestled with what it truly means to be saved by grace and understood that we can not simply live however we want after becoming "saved" but our lives need to be lived in obedience to Christ and following His call of discipleship. Without a life spent in obedience to God and following this call, who can say that they are saved at all? This is nothing short of cheap grace which costs the person nothing. However, costly grace (the grace which saves) costs a person everything!
I highly recommend this book for those people who desire something more out of this life than what modern day Christianity offers most of the time. This is not a quick fix however, but this is something which will take years to come to fruition. One thing I promise though: if you take this book seriously, you will never be the same! | | | Write your own review about The Cost of Discipleship
|
