Download cost of discipleship pdf

Walker brings to a new generation the timeless message of Bonhoeffer against the background of today's political upheaval and societal change and what it means to those who claim to follow Christ's teachings. They are designed to be used along side the classic itself- either in individual study or in a study group. The faithful of all generations have found spiritual nourishment in the Scriptures and in the works of Christians of earlier generations. Martin Luther and John Calvin would not have become who they were apart from their reading Augustine.

God used the writings of Martin Luther to move John Wesley from a religion of dead works to an experience at Aldersgate in which his "heart was strangely warmed. What can the call to discipleship, the adherence to the word of Jesus, mean today to the businessman, the soldier, the laborer, or the government worker? What did Jesus mean to say to us?

What is his will for us today? Drawing on the Sermon on the Mount, Dietrich Bonhoeffer answers these timeless questions by providing a seminal reading of the dichotomy between "cheap grace" and "costly grace.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the girl which must be asked for, the door at which a man must know I will definitely recommend this book to non fiction, religion lovers. Your Rating:. Your Comment:. Read Online Download. Great book, The Cost of Discipleship pdf is enough to raise the goose bumps alone. For example, secular research indicates that people living in poverty are statistically more likely to be worried than wealthy people are.

Prosperity theology teaches that Christ rewards His disciples for their obedience with blessings of physical health and wealth in this life, as well as spiritual blessings in the afterlife. Islamic views on wealth and poverty are also varied.

The Sufi Muslim sect continues to teach this. Very few Jews endorse the idea of voluntary poverty, because, contrary to Bonhoeffer, they believe that poverty leaves you more vulnerable to hardship, which, in turn, makes you more likely to need assistance from others. Wealthy Jews are encouraged to help the poor, especially if they can help a poor Jew attain financial self-sufficiency through a gift or loan. In Buddhism and Hinduism , monks often renounce earthly wealth and possessions beyond those necessary for their monastic lifestyle.

According to Bonhoeffer, suffering is the hallmark of discipleship. Christ came to earth to suffer in our place so that our sins could be forgiven. By following and obeying Christ, we gradually become more like him. Bonhoeffer declares that to suffer like Christ is the most glorious honor that a disciple can receive on earth. As such, you can triumph over suffering by accepting it and rejoicing in the fact that it allows you to relate more closely to Christ.

Instead, he insists that disciples will suffer gratuitous persecution because of their allegiance to Christ. He asserts that humbly and peacefully seeking to follow Christ invariably provokes people who reject Christ to slander you and seek your harm, just as Jewish leaders who rejected Jesus' teachings persecuted him. However, we can infer two possible reasons:. First, there is a historical precedent. Christians were persecuted severely in the first three centuries AD, before it became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire.

For that matter, history records that minority religions throughout the world have often faced persecution to some extent. Throughout the book, Bonhoeffer seems to assume his readers are familiar with church history, so perhaps he considered this historical evidence too obvious to mention.

Second, Bonhoeffer had personal experience with persecution, which we can imagine he was drawing from. If you believe that obeying Christ is more important than obeying the laws of your country or the traditions of the society in which you live, then political leaders may view you as a threat simply because they cannot control you.

And if they see you as a threat to their political ambitions, they may try to suppress your influence or even destroy you. Bonhoeffer himself certainly experienced this kind of hostility from the Nazis. Bonhoeffer asserts that disciples of Christ should practice strict pacifism. After all, as his disciples, we should model our behavior after his example: Christ loved us enough to die for us, even when we were hostile toward him. Thus, we should love others and treat them with kindness, even when they treat us with hostility.

Bonhoeffer affirms that we can love people unreservedly without condoning their sin. In fact, he says that non-resistance is the only response that truly condemns sin, because sin reproduces through retaliation: If someone hurts you, and you respond by hurting them, it will likely provoke them to hurt you again, and so on. However, if you let someone hurt you and forgive them instead of retaliating, then the sin they committed against you dies instead of multiplying. Perspectives on pacifism vary widely, both among Christians and people of other religious persuasions:.

Christian groups that, like Bonhoeffer, advocate strict pacifism include the Quakers , Mennonites , and Amish. Contrastingly, the Catholic church and many Protestant churches endorse the view of St. Augustine, who, in the 5th century, argued that use of force in war, self-defense, or law enforcement was justifiable and even obligatory in certain cases.

Specifically, Augustine asserted that it is a sin for you to allow a grievous act of evil to be perpetrated, if you have the opportunity to prevent it. In Islam , use of force in self-defense and military defense of the Muslim community are generally considered not only permissible but mandatory.

In Buddhism , pacifism is widely endorsed, because Buddha is said to have taught that all creatures share the same life force, and so violence against another creature human or animal was never justifiable.

However, some Buddhists take exception to this teaching. For example, Buddhist monks of the Shaolin monastery practice martial arts and use force for self-defense or defense of others. Finally, Bonhoeffer asserts that discipleship will cost you your civil rights and any political power or governmental office that you hold. As we noted earlier, obeying Christ takes precedence over your job, family, and country. While Bonhoeffer generally advises you to keep your job and continue to support your family when you become a disciple, he says you must withdraw from any position you hold with your government.

He gives three reasons for this:. You cannot serve your country in a law-enforcement or military role because soldiers and police must employ violent force in the line of duty, while you, as a disciple, are obliged to love your enemies and renounce all violence against them. Shortform note: Interestingly, Bonhoeffer himself served in Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, beginning about two years after The Cost of Discipleship was published.

Thus, it seems probable that he reconsidered this idea and assumed a less restrictive opinion shortly after publishing it. As a disciple, you profess to trust in Christ alone for protection and providence. For example, Acts recounts how St.

Paul exercised his right to appeal to Caesar as a Roman citizen. According to Bonhoeffer, there is a historical precedent for not working for a government as a follower of Christ: In the early church, soldiers, policemen, and judges were not permitted to be baptized unless they renounced their respective positions.

He insinuates that this prohibition was lifted when church leaders became less devout and allowed the church to become more secularized. Shortform note: Although Bonhoeffer points to early Church laws that support his theory, he ignores some Biblical passages that counter it, which itself runs counter to his claim that his theories are supported by scripture. Acts 10 records the conversion and baptism of Cornelius, a centurion captain in the Roman military.