by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, read by Paul Michael
Dietrich Bonhoeffer lived a testimony of his thoughtful and engaging writers. Focusing on the most treasured part of Christ's teaching - the Sermon on the Mount with its call to discipleship, and on the grace of God and the sacrifice which that demands. At the same time, it shares with many great Christian classics a quality of timelessness, so that it has spoken, and continues to speak powerfully, to the varied concerns of the contemporary world.
Coupon Code: MAR2010
by John Piper, read by Robertson Dean
WHY? The most important questions anyone can ask are: Why was Jesus Christ crucified? Why did he suffer so much? What has this to do with me? Finally, who sent him to his death? The answer to the last question is that God did. Jesus was God's Son. John Piper has gathered from the New Testament fifty reasons. Not fifty causes, but fifty purposes—in answer to the most important question that each of us must face: What did God achieve for sinners like us in sending his Son to die?
Coupon Code: MAR2010B
Finally got around to downloading this. I hope that you have not forgotten about this. What a blessing!
ReplyDeleteI have read biographies of Bonhoeffer, and, although to be admired for his principled stand against Hitler (especially since I have an undergrad degree in Political Science), his neo-orthodox theology makes his surface Biblical views and language suspect. Although a person can find helpful statements scattered throughout his writings, other, more Biblical, authors are a better investment of time.
ReplyDeleteBonhoeffer struggled with living the life of a disciple "in the world" without retreating from society with a hide-in-my-fortress mentality. This isn't to say that he made all of the "right" decisions. The life of faith is not a bed of roses. It often calls upon us to do hard things.
ReplyDeleteYou never read any author without discernment (especially the "good" authors). The time I've spent reading this book has been time well spent. His view of discipleship is more consistent with that of the Gospel writers and more heart probing than any other I've read. It's not a classic because "liberal-minded" Christians love it. I own a print copy of this book that came out of the library of a prominent Fundamentalist pastor’s library that is now deceased. On the front flyleaf he wrote: “Extreme Liberalism!” This is absolutely ridiculous and misguided! Honestly, they would have none of his kind of discipleship.
There are other good books on the subject but this is one of the best.
Which books on discipleship would you say are as good or better than Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship?
Conservative Evangelicals and some Fundamentalists tend to read Bonhoeffer through the lens of Bible-believing Christianity. Bonhoeffer was Neo-Orthodox, and his writings must be understood from that perspective. The Jesus he wanted people to be a disciple of is very different from the Jesus Bible-believing Christians wish to follow. Statements in Bonhoeffer's book "Discipleship" which you find appealing and/or helpful---I suspect Bonhoeffer meant something a little different than you read into it.
ReplyDeleteAs far as better books on discipleship, a book does not need the words "disciple" or "discipleship" in order to be a good book on discipleship. Some suggestions would be:
Jim Berg's "Changed" series
MacArthur's "Gospel According To Jesus"
Michael Barrett's "Complete In Him"
Jerry Bridges' "Pursuit Of Holiness"
Again, as I have an interest in politics, gov't, & ethics [my doctoral dissertation was in an area of Bioethics], I admire his courageous & principled actions in the 1930s and 1940s. Yet his theological views promoted a different Jesus and a different gospel.