Even though I have read this atleast five times there are still things I glean from each reading. There are individual points that one can quibble with at this point in Bonhoeffer's theology, particularly in light of his later writing in Ethics and Letters and Papers, but he still remains one of the most influential theologians even 60 years after his death.

The Fortress edition is helpful in filling in the gaps in documentation that Bonhoeffer leaves as well as giving some historical context to the work but ideally one only gets to glimpse Bonhoeffer's development by going through his work and Bethge's biography (or atleast Renate Winds much shorter one). Even apart from the background it is a work well worth any thoughtful Christians time. ( )

An incredible look at the Christian life. Bonhoeffer does not dodge any issue here, or sugar-coat any word. His message is clear, and it is clearly biblical -- if you will follow Christ, you will follow Him completely and with everything. Anything less is not following at all.

It has been a long time since I was so engaged, so awestruck, and so enthusiastic about a book. The Cost of Discipleship is an important book and one that every Christian should read. Being a Christian is not something to be taken lightly, for the Grace that saves us was bought in Blood. That Grace is costly, and so should be accepted as such.

Of course, I do not agree with everything in here. The chapter on baptism, I believe, misses the mark quite a bit. And yet one chapter will not squelch my enthusiasm for the whole book, and this one I recommend wholeheartedly. ( )

A powerful work by an excellent and lucid theologian. Bonhoeffer does well at exposing the "cheap grace" often present in historic Protestantism and Evangelicalism and does well to show what the Scriptures teach about discipleship. Focus is made on the Sermon on the Mount and Matthew 10 and Jesus' commissioning of His disciples.

Unfortunately, sometimes Bonhoeffer's Lutheranism gets the better of him, and I would have found his discussion of Paul to be better had he not been fighting the Reformation conflict over justification by faith only.

Otherwise the book demonstrates the depth and greatness of Bonhoeffer and his insights. ( )

Bonhoeffer is the German Luther minister who defied antisemitism and fascism in Nazi Germany, building resistance on Christian principle. He paid the ultimate cost by sacrificing his life when he was executed in April 1945 just weeks before VE day.

The book sets out in simple and stark terms what cost one pays to follow Christ. The language can be complex and I believe Bonhoeffer deals with issues such as the debate of faith versus works, and the concept of grace, things I confess I don't quite understand. Theologically I'm a kindergartener. The heart of the book is an exegesis of the Sermon of the Mount. At each point Bonhoeffer empasizes that without Christ, without discipline there is no forgiveness and there's danger of self-justification. While the book was hard going, I think it was a good experience for me to work through it.
Favorite passages

To endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ. When it comes, it is not an accident, but a necessity. It is not the sort of suffering which is inseparable from this mortal life, but the suffering which is an essential part of the specifically Christian life. It is not suffering per se but suffering-and-rejection, and not rejection for any cause or conviction of our own, but rejection for the sake of Christ. If our Christianity has ceased to be serious about discipleship, if we have watered down the gospel into emotional uplift which makes no costly demands and which fails to distinguish between natural and Christian existence, the we cannot help regarding the cross as an ordinary everyday calamity, as one of the trials and tribulations of life (p. 78).
My brother's burden which I must bear is not only his outward lot, his natural characteristics and gifts, but quite literally his sin. And the only way to bear that sin is by forgiving it in the power of the cross of Christ in which I now share.
Prayer is the supreme instance of the hidden character of the Christian life. It is the antithesis of self-display. When men pray, they have ceased to know themselves, and know only God whom they call upon. Prayer does not aim at any direct effect on the world; it is addressed to God alone, and is therefore the perfect example of undemonstrative action (p. 146).
Judgement is the forbidden objectivization of the other person which destroys single-minded love. I am not forbidden to have my own thoughts about the other person, to realize his shortcomings, but only to the extent that it offers to me an occasion for forgiveness and unconditional love, as Jesus proves to me. If I withhold my judgment I am not indulging in tout comprende c'est tout pardonner and confirm the other person in his bad ways. Neither I am right nor the other person, but God is always right and shall proclaim his grace and his judgment.

Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace whcih others are just as entitled to as we are. But in the love of Christ we know all about every conceivable sin and guilt; for we know how Jesus suffered. Christian love sees the fellow-man under the cross and therefore see with clarity. If when we judged others, our real motive was to destroy evil, we should look for evil where it is certain to be found, and that is in our own hearts (p. 164-5). ( )

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book "The Cost of Discipleship" is a tremendously inspiring, insightful and pentrating look into Christian discipleship. Bonhoeffer, who wrote the book in the midst of struggling to stand up against the evils of Nazi Germany in the 1940's, takes the reader along on a transformational exploration into Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and what it means to believers in the world today.
This reviewer was inspired, given ample food for thought and encouraged on his journey with God after reading this book.

Bonhoeffer's message, like the message of the Gospels, when truthfully proclamied, can be difficult to hear and accept. He writes that "When Christ calls a [person] he bids them to come and die...that they might gain new life." This is the radical message of Christian discipleship in miniature.

Bonhoeffer writes of the first step of Christian discipleship as putting Christ first, and following- no matter what the cost may be. For Bonhoeffer, his faith cost him his life. He was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp for his open opposition to the tyrrany of Nazism, where he died helping others at the age of 39.

If you have not done so already- read this book- it may change your life! Or should I say that through this book Bonhoeffer's witness to the transformational power of the Holy One may change your life. ( )