Review of The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Cost of Discipleship [Bon61] is a book written by Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer spoke out against the Nazi party from the very beginning, placing himself in harm’s way for the sake of others. He participated first as an academic in the ideological battle that preceded the Nazi era, with the conviction that the only way to save Germany was a return to Christianity, which stood in direct contrast to and challenged the ideology of the Nazi party.
He abandoned his academic career when he felt it had lost its proper meaning in the context of his changing country. He actively worked as a minister and as a spy with the German resistance in Nazi Germany, was instrumental in rescuing several Jews from near-certain death and was finally executed himself on April 9th, 1945 by the S.S. Black Guard.
He refused to escape the oppressive and evil regime when he had the chance in 1934 and again in 1944, in order to continue to live his convictions out to their conclusion without endangering others, saying that he believed he would “have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people… Christians in Germany will face the terrible alternative of either willing the defeat of their nation in order that Christian civilization may survive, or willing the victory of their nation and thereby destroying our civilization. I know which of these alternatives I must choose; but I cannot make this choice in security” [Bon61]. There is no doubt that Bonhoeffer meant what he wrote, and there are few from whom these lessons could be so meaningfully learned. The Cost of Discipleship is focused on what it means to be a Disciple, but covers topics including obedience, truthfulness, baptism, the meaning of the Body of Christ and more.
In Leibholz’ 1961 memoir of Bonhoeffer which prefaces the Cost of Discipleship, he writes that “we know that the time will come when we shall have to realize that we owe it to the inspiration of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life and death, and of those who died with him, that Western Civilization can be saved” [Bon61]. The first topic that Bonhoeffer covers in his book about Discipleship is the concept of costly grace, which he connects to the message of the Sermon on the Mount. We are still learning today that the Christianity of the West has yet to take seriously the Sermon on the Mount [Johb]. How can this be? Where is the revival that Leibholz predicted?
Followers of Jesus, like Bonhoeffer, will meet opposition and will often get hurt. Following Jesus involves sacrifices, as it is fundamentally the goal of a Christian to follow Jesus, whose path lead to the Cross. The living God makes Shalom (Peace) in the world through sacrificial love [Joha].
Does this always involve refusing to resist the one who is evil, turning the other cheek? This is a question that Bonhoeffer struggled with particularly, as a clergyman and member of the German resistance that plotted (and nearly succeeded) to assassinate Hitler. Bonhoeffer prayed that when war came, God would “give him the strength not to bear arms” [Bon61]. At the same time, he urged his friends in the resistance not to delay their plans in response to the political climate in Germany, saying that they could not call themselves Christians if they did so. How can we reconcile these two things? Is there a connecting theological thread, or does the way we live out Faith as Christians look arbitrary without considering the circumstances and context of those actions? Bonhoeffer attempts to address these questions in The Cost of Discipleship.
Costly Grace and the Law as a Central Theme
“When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”
- 1 Peter 2:23 [niv]
This is the way of the Cross: to never pay back evil for evil and to overcome evil with good… but what is evil and what is good? Bonhoeffer lived and operated in trying times that demanded an upright conduct that stretched the boundaries of the theology that usually informs daily living. Bonhoeffer’s theology, instead of presenting a reassuring framework or assurances of God’s goodness, became a theology that I believe essentially expands on the meaning of Jesus’ words in John 5: “the Son can do nothing by Himself; he can do only what he sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does” — John 5:19 [niv].
Bonhoeffer says that the disciples of Jesus make Peace by choosing to endure the suffering themselves rather than inflict it on others. He presents the mystery at the centre of Discipleship as an “impossible possibility”, a paradox which can only be met with single-minded obedience, saying for example that “in the last resort what matters is not what a man does but only his faith in Jesus as the Son of God and Mediator” [Bon61]. This understanding which seems to correspond to a doctrine of justification by faith alone he also says must “never lead to an abandoning of the single-minded understanding of the commandments” [Bon61]. Bonhoeffer’s theology expands on how absolute trust in God’s Grace and a simultaneous determination to follow God’s Law can be brought together in a contextual way. I believe it is a similar single-mindedness that inspired him to both refuse to recant and to refuse rescue prior to his execution, remaining determined in his Faith and against the state, despite threats to himself and his family including threats of torture.
Bonhoeffer drew inspiration from Martin Luther, who with the Reformers made it clear that following Jesus is not a call for the select few who should exist in a separate and protected (cloistered) society, apart from the world. Rather, it is a call to follow Jesus in the world, which is bound to transform the world and is also bound to be much harder.
Bonhoeffer wrote that “such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life” [Bon61]. It is no wonder that his Faith led him to his death, since Bonhoeffer lived in a world (Nazi Germany) that had cut itself off from God’s will and glorified its own; in the language of scripture it had already ceased to live. It was the work of people like Bonhoeffer that attempted and sadly failed to revive Germany.
How can this determination against the state be reconciled with verses like Romans 13:2, which says that “whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” — Romans 13:2 [niv]? Bonhoeffer writes, “a definite legal ordinance acts as a barrier between Jesus and the man he has called. But the call of Jesus is stronger than the barrier… Jesus emerges at this point as the opponent of the law, and commands a man to follow Him. Only the Christ can speak in this fashion. He alone has the last word. His would-be follower cannot kick against the pricks. This call, this grace is irresistible” [Bon61].
In other words, the law including even the law laid down by God in the Old Testament is nothing next to Jesus, in that it may never be used as justification to ignore Jesus’ words or His message which favours the marginalized, the meek and the oppressed. We see how this understanding played out in Bonhoeffer’s life when he went without hesitation to his arrest, without a guilty conscience. “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” - Matthew 5:10 [niv].
This thinking is similar to the method of unifying the doctrines of Grace and Works that are emphasized in the books of Paul and Matthew that is presented by Bruner in his commentary on Matthew, as well as the unifying element between what he calls the “Help” and the “Need” beatitudes. The poor in spirit are blessed because through His disciples, they will be helped. The disciples will expend themselves to help them because, as Bruner puts it, “Jesus does not blessed those conscious of their righteousness or victorious life.” Rather, “fullness of received mercy exists to be passed on, not stored up.” Since, “everywhere in the teaching of Jesus the test (and even sometimes, reflexively, the source) of one’s relation with God is one’s relation with other people” [Bru07]. Bonhoeffer found himself in a position to help, finding himself blessed in the sense of Matthew 5:10.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness”
— Matthew 5:10a [niv]
“Jesus prays to His Father that the cup may pass from Him, and His Father hears His prayer; for the cup of suffering will indeed pass from him — but only by his drinking it.”
[Bon61]
Christian Community and the World
A second theme in The Cost of Discipleship is the relationship between Jesus, Christian community (the Church) and the world. This theme frames Bonhoeffer’s writing on topics pertaining to Christian living. In the same book, we come across the following statements which can only be reconciled by a similar interpretive approach to that we learned in the earlier parts of the book:
“Every man is called separately, and must follow alone. But men are frightened of solitude, and they try to protect themselves from it by merging themselves in the society of their fellow-men and in their material environment.”
“No, Luther had to leave the cloister and go back to the world, not because the world itself was good and holy, but because even the cloister was only a part of the world. Luther’s return from the cloister to the world was the worst blow the world had suffered since the days of early Christianity. The renunciation he made when he became a monk was child’s play compared with that which he had to make when he returned to the world. Now came the frontal assault.”
[Bon61]
Bonhoeffer also states that whenever someone leaves or is excluded from the Church, the only recourse for a member of the Church is to follow after him, in order to keep him in communion, even at risk of his own membership in the Church. He also declares that the only recourse when a teacher of false doctrine is found in the ranks of the Church is to excommunicate him or her.
He teaches that the Church is like a sealed and armoured train passing through enemy territory, that a long-term goal of the Church is to remain recognizably and visibly distinct from the world. He also teaches and demonstrated unto his own death that the Church cannot exclude itself from the world even in the worst circumstances.
These apparent contradictions can only be understood in light of the truly unconditional love expressed in chapter 13, wherein Bonhoeffer describes the right Christian response to his enemy: “Christian love draws no distinction between one enemy and another, except that the more bitter our enemy’s hatred, the greater his need of love” [Bon61].
Bonhoeffer has demonstrated himself more than capable of holding ideas in tension. It is in this tension between the Church and the world that the battle for the world’s soul is fought. This is exactly where things get messy, where there is no clear roadmap for Christian living. It is exactly the place where the “worst blows” are dealt in the war between the secular world and the Church.
Bonhoeffer understood that this was the territory he lived in, starting perhaps with the abandonment of his academic career. How should we behave with respect to others including Christians, heretics, extra-ordinaries and even fascists in this territory? Bonhoeffer provides us with several examples in The Cost of Discipleship, and one further example: his own life.
Bibliography
[Bon61] Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The cost of discipleship. MacMillan Publishing Company, 1961.
[Bru07] Frederick Dale Bruner. Matthew: A commentary. W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2007.
[Joha] Darrell Johnson. The Beatitudes (continued) / Salt and Light. Regent College.
[Johb] Darrell Johnson. Fulfillers (continued). Regent College.
[niv] The Bible: The New International Version. Blue Letter Bible.
