Discipleship - Book Review

Discipleship. By Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 4. Edited by Geffrey B. Kelly and John D. Godsey. Translated by Barbara Green and Rein-hard Krauss. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001. xv and 367 pages. Cloth. $48.00.

"Like ravens we have gathered around the carcass of cheap grace. From it we have imbibed the poison which has killed the following of Jesus among us. The doctrine of pure grace experienced an unprecedented deification. The pure doctrine of grace became its own God, grace itself. Luther's teachings are quoted everywhere, but twisted from their truth into self-delusion.... A people became Christian, became Lutheran, but at the cost of discipleship, at an all-too-cheap price. Cheap grace had won" (p. 53).

This provocative indictment first made by Bonhoeffer in 1937 may still be the most important theological challenge that Lutheran Christians need to answer. As we live comfortably in this time of prosperity, millions of others suffer from hunger, homelessness, violence, and hatred. Justification means the death of the sinner and the resurrection of a disciple. Bonhoeffer's hyper-Lutheran interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount in this classic book calls the church to die with Christ to self and to live with Christ in discipleship. Grace is only grace in close identification of the believer with Christ's own life, death, and resurrection. When we bless the status quo apart from repentance and new life in Christ, we perpetuate cheap grace.

Speaking retrospectively, Bonhoeffer himself recognized the danger of this book. Misinterpreted, it plunges the church back into the intolerable and oppressive legalism against which Luther rebelled. At the same time, Bonhoeffer stood by what he wrote. The consequence of cheap grace has been a complacent church, dulled as by a narcotic.

This is a new translation of the German critical edition of Bonhoeffer's text. The newness of the translation is underscored by the title, Discipleship, a more accurate rendering of the original title than The Cost of Discipleship. This version includes an excellent Introduction to the English edition by Geffrey B. Kelly and John D. Godsey, an Afterword from the German edition by Martin Kuske and Ilse Toedt, a Chronology, extensive bibliographies, and indices of scriptural references, names, and subjects. Like the other volumes in the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works project, this one is designed not only for the interested reader but also for the critical scholar. The publication of this critical edition in English will serve generations of future students of the life and theology of Bonhoeffer. Hopefully, it will also be possible to publish a popular version of this translation in the near future to make it available to a wider circle of readers than those who invest in the critical edition. The new translation is noticeably improved.

The witness of Bonhoeffer has made significant impact throughout the world on both ordinary people and scholars. His intense concentration on the person of Christ accompanied by a life of integrity is a compelling combination. Heed once more the words of Bonhoeffer, presented in this new translation: "But do we know that this cheap grace has been utterly unmerciful against us? Is the price that we are paying today with the collapse of the organized churches anything else but an inevitable consequence of grace acquired too cheaply? We gave away preaching and sacraments cheaply; we performed baptisms and confirmations; we absolved an entire people, unquestioned and unconditionally; Out of human love we handed over what was holy to the scornful and unbelievers. We poured out rivers of grace without end, but the call to rigorously follow Christ was seldom heard" (pp. 53f.). How do we respond to this cry?

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