Discipleship: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 4
"Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of our
church. Our struggle today is for costly
grace."
And with that sharp warning to his own
church, which was engaged in bitter conflict
with the official nazified state church,
Dietrich Bonhoeffer began his book
Discipleship (formerly entitled
The Cost of Discipleship). Originally
published in 1937, it soon became a classic
exposition of what it means to follow Christ
in a modern world beset by a dangerous and
criminal government. At its center stands an
interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount:
what Jesus demanded of his followers—and
how the life of discipleship is to be
continued in all ages of the post-
resurrection church.
"Every call of Jesus is a call to death,"
Bonhoeffer wrote. His own life ended in
martyrdom on April 9, 1945.
Freshly translated from the German critical
edition, Discipleship provides a more
accurate rendering of the text and extensive
aids and commentary to clarify the meaning,
context, and reception of this work and its
attempt to resist the Nazi ideology then
infecting German Christian churches.