The Cost of Discipleship

354 Pages·2016·9.61 MB·English

by  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Cost of Discipleship
Revised Edition
The Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
already published in English
TEMPTATION
LEITERS AND PAPERS FROM PRISON
ETHICS
CREATION AND FALL
The Cost of
Discipleship
REVISED AND UN ABRIDGED
EDITION
CONTAINING MATERIAL
NOT PREVIOUSLY TRANSLATED
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
MACMILLAN PUBLISHING CO., INC.
NEW YORK
Translated from the German NACHFOLGE
first published 1937 by Chr. Kaiser Verlag Miinchcn
by R. H. Fuller, with some revision by Irmgard Booth.
(First edition published 1949)
Second edition© SCM Press Ltd 1959
Reprinted October 1960
Reprinted November 1960
Reprinted April 1961
First Macmillan Paperbacks Edition 1963
Twenty-first Printing 1979
All rights reserved. No part of this book
may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or me
chanical, including photocopying, record
ing or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the Publisher.
Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.,
866 Third Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
Foreword by Bishop G. K. A. Bell 7
Memoir by G. Leibholz 11
INTRODUCTION 37
I GRACE AND DISCIPLESHIP 43
1 Costly Grace 45
2 The Call to Discipleship 61
3 Single-minded Obedience 87
4 Discipleship and the Cross 95
5 Discipleship and the Individual 105
II THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 115
Matthew 5: Of the "Extraordinariness"
of the Christian Life
6 The Beatitudes 117
7 The Visible Community 129
8 The Righteousness of Christ 135
9 The Brother 142
10 Woman 147
11 Truthfulness 151
5
6 CONTENTS
12 Revenge 156
13 The Enemy-the "Extraordinary" 162
Matthew 6: Of the Hidden Character
of the Christian Life
14 The Hidden Righteousness 172
15 The Hiddenness of Prayer 180
16 The Hiddenness of the Devout Life 188
17 The Simplicity of the Carefree Life 192
Matthew 7: The Separation of the
Disciple Community
18 The Disciple and Unbelievers 202
19 The Great Divide 210
20 The Conclusion 218
III THE MESSENGERS 221
21 The Harvest 223
22 The Apostles 226
23 The Work 228
24 The Suffering of the Messengers 236
25 The Decision 241
26 The Fruit 245
IV THE CHURCH OF TESUS CHRIST AND
THE LIFE OF DISCIPLESHIP 247
27 Preliminary Questions 249
28 Baptism 254
29 The Body of Christ 263
30. The Visible Community 277
31 The Saints 305
32 The Image of Christ 337
Index of Sub;ects 345
Index of Biblical References 348
Foreword
By G. K. A. Bell, late Bishop of Chichester
"WHEN CmusT calls a man," says Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, "he bids him come and die." There are
different kinds of dying, it is true; but the essence of
discipleship is contained in those words. And this
marvellous book is a commentary on the cost. Dietrich
himself was a martyr many times before he died. He
was one of the first as well as one of the bravest wit
nesses against idolatry. He understood what he chose,
when he chose resistance. I knew him in London in
the early days of the evil regime: and from him, more
than from any other German, I learned the true char
acter of the conflict, in an intimate friendship. I have
no doubt that he did fine work with his German con
gregation: but he taught many besides his fellow
countrymen while a pastor in England. He was crystal
clear in his convictions; and young as he was, and
humble-minded as he was, he saw the truth, and
spoke it with a complete absence of fear. In Stockholm
when he came so unexpectedly to see me in 1942, as
an emissary from the Opposition, he was exactly the
same, completely candid, completely regardless of
7
8 FOREWORD
personal safety, while deeply moved by the shame of
the country he loved. Wherever he went, with whom
ever he was, with students, with those of his own age,
or with his elders, he was undaunted, detached from
himself, devoted to his friends, to his home, to his
country as God meant it to be, to his Church, to his
Master. I am very glad that the full text of Nachfolge
appears in this latest edition of The Cost of Disciple
ship. The book will show men by what fire this young
German churchman was possessed. It will also show
the cost at which discipleship, in all nations, is to be
won.
G.K.A.BELL
January 1958 Bp.