Themes Was not the experience of the disciple who heard Jesus’ call from his own lips different than ours, who listen for Jesus’ call through the distance of scripture and the teachings of the church? Bonhoeffer tackles this question head on in this brief chapter. Should we fall trap to the belief that the experience […]
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Themes In previous chapters, Bonhoeffer has laid out the relationship of the disciple to Christ, the relationship of the disciple to the world, and even the relationship of the disciple to the neighbor. In this chapter, he moves his attention to the relationship of the disciple to the work of mission through his interpretation of
Chapter 7: The Messengers Read More »
This is our first in an ongoing series that pairs art from local artists with their reflections on topics of spirituality and faith. Come by St. Faith’s Anglican Church to experience the artist’s work Tuesday-Friday from 9:30 to 4pm or on Sundays. There is something electric about being in community spaces, public spaces and gathering
Themes In this chapter, and in the next, Bonhoeffer shifts the style and content of his writing. Building on the theological arguments of the first five chapters, Bonhoeffer turns to the exegesis (the critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially scripture) of the Sermon on the Mount. This extended teaching of Jesus, which in
Chapter 6: The Sermon on the Mount Read More »
I think we’ve all had times in our lives where we had a clear plan for ourselves. Perhaps a plan related to our career, or a plan for our family, or as was the case for me, a plan for my education. I remember when the first college brochure arrived in the mail when I
The Best Laid Plans Read More »
Themes While this chapter is a bit heavier to read through than some of the others, the ideas Bonhoeffer explores here build logically off the preceding chapter. In chapter four, Bonhoeffer speaks of suffering as distance between us and God. In this chapter, he starts with the assumption that this distance is fundamental to the
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Themes If grace has been cheapened by the Church, then so too has the idea of Christian suffering. Bonhoeffer moves quickly to dismantle two of the ways that suffering has been watered down within the Christian tradition. The first is by distinguishing between suffering that is celebrated and suffering that is rejected. The former, though
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Themes Bonhoeffer picks up the theme of obedience from the previous chapter and expands it in this chapter. The central idea is that Christians have taken a simple obedience to Jesus’ commands and have turned them into something highly complex but ultimately meaningless. We do this through a variety of justifications—that Jesus intended us to
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Themes Bonhoeffer pulls apart the question of how we are supposed to respond to Jesus’ call to discipleship. Though this seems like something that should be straightforward, he argues that we get it wrong most of the time. Using the pericope of the three people who sought to be Jesus’ disciples (see Bible passage above
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Themes Bonhoeffer lays out the central problem Christianity faced in the world, the conflict of cheap grace versus costly grace. Cheap grace, in his view, is the grace proclaimed widely and abundantly by the church: the justification of sin presupposed by a grace that cannot be earned through human action or devotion. It is grace
Chapter 1: Costly Grace Read More »