You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.24 AVERAGE
4.24 AVERAGE
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
What does it mean to be a Christian during the time of Jesus? And in our modern context, what does it mean to be a Christian now? Bonhoeffer’s work points out that the call to the Christian, whether a pastor or those in the congregation, is completely the same. It’s the same call made to the disciples — Come, and follow me. Through dissecting the Sermon on the Mount, Bonhoeffer describes the life that Jesus called all his followers — a death to themselves.
The church during Bonhoeffer’s age is all to similar to our church today. It’s filled with people who hear the gospel again and again but never fully understand what it means to follow Christ. Bonhoeffer points out that the sacrifice and death that Jesus experienced on the cross is the same death that every Christian follows in — the death to our own dreams, desires, and ourselves. This was a challenging book, both in it’s convictions against how I’ve treated my areas of faith (especially the section on cheap grace vs. Costly grace), as well as the life described by the beatitudes.
Outside of his own writings, the beginning of the book includes a short memoir of Bonhoeffer’s life that includes some of his poetry, some of which I found myself openly weeping. Especially of his writings during his time in the Nazi concentration camp.
Bonhoeffer is one of this writers that I know I’m going to return to time and time again — each time finding new insights on every re-read.
Amazing. If you want your butt kicked, read this classic book. Do we believe in "cheap" or "costly" grace? Bonhoeffer walks us through Jesus' sermon on the mount and challenges us to live a life of grace and obedience.
I haven't read much theology, and I'm not a German Lutheran in the 1930s, I feel like I lacked the context to understand all of this. The end result was a reading experience both thought-provoking and confusing in turns.
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Overall I think this is a good book that over argues it's point.
Diving into the relationship between faith and works was really good and definitely challenged me. This is explored in the first third of the book and I think it is the strongest and most interesting portion.
His thoughts on the sermon on the mount in the 2nd third of the book were good but the slow way he walks through the sermon began to feel redundant. A important reminder that Christ must be the Christians mediator in all things, so I think he really wanted to hammer that home.
The final portion talks about the Christians identity in Christ and the Church. I think some of this went further into Lutheran theology then I was able to follow. His main thrust about the Christians new life being cradled in the Church and the Church being the visible body of Christ on earth was pretty good.
Diving into the relationship between faith and works was really good and definitely challenged me. This is explored in the first third of the book and I think it is the strongest and most interesting portion.
His thoughts on the sermon on the mount in the 2nd third of the book were good but the slow way he walks through the sermon began to feel redundant. A important reminder that Christ must be the Christians mediator in all things, so I think he really wanted to hammer that home.
The final portion talks about the Christians identity in Christ and the Church. I think some of this went further into Lutheran theology then I was able to follow. His main thrust about the Christians new life being cradled in the Church and the Church being the visible body of Christ on earth was pretty good.
challenging
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Very thought-provoking. Forced me to evaluate choices I will soon have to make.
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
Helpful and thought-provoking, but should be taken with a large grain of salt. While I agreed with Bonhoeffer on many issues, particularly in his rebuttal of antinomian strands in the church, he seemed to misread different Scripture passages as being more radical than intended and overall elevated the radicalness of the Church in a way that I thought was unhelpful. Yes, a walk in Christ is to-some-extent radical, but we're called to actually live in the world as well. While Bonhoeffer's zeal is inspiring, it often takes him to provocative positions, and as much as Bonhoeffer may claim it's all Scripture, his arguments can be tenuous at points.
This book was thought-provoking enough that I would recommend it, as Bonhoeffer raises questions that we ought to have answers too. But there's a lot of sifting you'll need to do in certain parts of this book to get to good answers.
Rating: 3 Stars (Fairly Good).
This book was thought-provoking enough that I would recommend it, as Bonhoeffer raises questions that we ought to have answers too. But there's a lot of sifting you'll need to do in certain parts of this book to get to good answers.
Rating: 3 Stars (Fairly Good).