The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer Here’s a brief overview of the key themes discussed in the book. Bonhoeffer wrote the book as a challenge to Christians to take their faith more seriously and realize its true requirements. The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer is a classic of Christian thought. Why is The Cost of Discipleship so widely read? What is the book’s main argument? What does Bonhoeffer mean by the “cost of discipleship”? Like this article? Sign up for a free trial here. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.

This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to 'The Cost of Discipleship' by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Also, in Letters and Papers from Prison we find a broken but resolute Bonhoeffer providing us with a theology of suffering, much in the vein of C.S.

His book, Life Together, is a great work on the idea of genuine Christian community. He wrote several other great works, mostly during this period that he suffered greatly for his beliefs. Eventually these plots would cost him his life, and after two years in prison, in April 1945, he was hanged at the Flossenburg Concentration Camp.ĭietrich had a strong balance of standing on foundational truths and the deep desire to live out the Christian life through 'costly grace.' He was known as a great theological and spiritual leader for Germany during a difficult time for the country. He would be highly outspoken of the Nazis regime, even to the point of being linked to attempts to assassinate Hitler. As a Lutheran pastor he became the key member of the Confessing Church, which opposed the ways of the State Church of the Nazis. He would never stay away from Germany for long because of his deep calling to lead his people spiritually.īonhoeffer is considered one of the best writers on this topic of the cost of following Jesus. His father was a famous psychiatrist which allowed for him to receive a great education, studying both in Berlin and New York City. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in Breslau, Germany in 1906 during a transition time in Europe.

The cost of discipleship book