My Jesus of Nazareth class this semester has a new wrinkle. We begin by reciting the Jesus Creed, we have a short quiz, and then — here’s the new part — I read aloud 2-3 pages from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s classic: Discipleship (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Vol. 4)
. I like the tile of this complete edition of Bonhoeffer’s classic. The original title was “Nachfolge” and so the same word is now in the official edition and translation: instead of “The Cost of Discipleship,” it is just “Discipleship.”
So far two topics: costly grace and the call to discipleship. It is stirring to be reading it aloud.
This book was the topic of lectures Bonhoeffer gave to his underground seminary students, and then it was published — and was no doubt one of the reasons Hitler’s diabolical cohorts banned Bonhoeffer from further publications.
This book contains the powerful arrows Bonhoeffer aimed at the idols of his day in Germany, and as such it contains the ideas needed to build an alternative, Jesus-shaped and discipleship-shaped, reality.
Read Previous Post
