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The Cost of Discipleship  By  cover art

The Cost of Discipleship

By: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Narrated by: Paul Michael
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Publisher's summary

What can the call to discipleship, the adherence to the word of Jesus, mean today to the businessman, the soldier, the laborer, or the aristocrat? What did Jesus mean to say to us? What is his will for us today? Drawing on the Sermon on the Mount, Dietrich Bonhoeffer answers these timeless questions by providing a seminal reading of the dichotomy between "cheap grace" and "costly grace." "Cheap grace," Bonhoeffer wrote, "is the grace we bestow on ourselves...grace without discipleship....Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the girl which must be asked for, the door at which a man must know....It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."

The Cost of Discipleship is a compelling statement of the demands of sacrifice and ethical consistency from a man whose life and thought were exemplary articulations of a new type of leadership inspired by the Gospel, and imbued with the spirit of Christian humanism and a creative sense of civic duty.

©1999 Dietrich Bonhoeffer (P)2009 christianaudio.com

What listeners say about The Cost of Discipleship

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Get this book

Wow! Bonhoeffer presents very practical, insightful and challenging ideas. I have a BA in Theology and am working on two Masters Degrees, and I have not encountered an analysis of church history and Christ's teachings like this before. Get this book; you won't be listening just once!

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71 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Timeless

After reading a collection of what are considered to be the top 100 books on Christian theology, this book is not only very thorough, but absolutely the finest written paraphase to Jesus Christ's message to his followers on discipleship.

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45 people found this helpful

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Excellent Book

If you could sum up The Cost of Discipleship in three words, what would they be?

profound, needed, the truth

What did you like best about this story?

Bonhoeffer reviews how Christianity got to where it was when he lived in the 1930s, and shows how it was reduced to only a creed.

Which scene was your favorite?

This is a doctrinal book.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. It is too weighty.

Any additional comments?

It is just as relevant today as it was in Hitler's Germany. This should be required reading for anyone who professes to be a Christian.

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41 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent Content - Not the best format

This is very good, but too deep for the audio format. I felt like I was drinking fine cognac from a fire hose - simply the wrong media for the content.

If you have read the book before, this might be a good way to revisit it. Otherwise I'd suggest buying the book instead. Still, the narration is very good and the content is wonderful, so I gave it a four.

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38 people found this helpful

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Original, Orthodox, Raw, and Inspiring

If C.S. Lewis is the man who helped me rationalize Christian Theology, Bonhoeffer is the man who helped me realize thay I didn't realize what Christianity actually wanted from me. My question was: "What does Christianity look like in practice?" This book is the answer to that question and many more. I left this book feeling foolish, convicted, enlightened and inspired. Bonhoeffer might take you down a peg, but he will always lift you higher than you were before. If you're willing to pay the cost of discipleship, this book is a gem. The fact that he was killed by Hitler's written order for his stand on these precise issues in Germany, is the final testament and pressing incentive, to listen to this book. Five huge stars! It's on my personal top 10 list.

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27 people found this helpful

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great look at the beatitudes

really good book.. covers the sermon on the mount in another light.. definitely reccommend for bible study.

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19 people found this helpful

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enlightening

this is an excellent book, well written, well read. it is worth every second of your time. I thought it was going to be slow paced but in the end... well done

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18 people found this helpful

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Way easier to listen to then to Read

Any additional comments?

This book is the book that lead me to audible.com The way the author writes was just to advance/ hard or whatever. I had to get in a quite space and with no distraction just to comprehend.
So I searched for a audio book and I found it. Its a lot easier to listen to.

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12 people found this helpful

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Before You Die Reading List

This should be on everyone's before you die reading list.
Bonhoeffer's writing about discipleship is moving and excellent.
Narrator does an outstanding job of getting Bonhoeffer's material across.

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10 people found this helpful

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Deep, Detailed and Descriptive.

This is a complex, deep description of a disciple. He uses a multitude of scripture and explanation. Very well done and the reader did an excellent job.

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6 people found this helpful