Wow. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is THE MAN. (And not the one who's always trying to keep us down, either.) That thought kept replaying in my mind as I read the memoir that G. K. Bell, the bishop of Chichester, wrote for him at the beginning of the book. Just amazing that he was so willing to stand up to Nazis and Hitler's power at a time when so few were openly doing so, by working to get the Church to publicly condemn the Nazis' actions, by refusing to serve in the army, and by even plotting to bring Hitler's government down and have his own country be defeated because of the evils that he saw in its persecution of the Jews. Even when he was able to leave Germany to save his life, he made the decision to stay and not abandon his country when he felt it needed him most. Throughout his time in prison and concentration camps, he was constantly helping those who were sick and trying to encourage everyone around him, so much so that his guards gained great respect for him, to the point that they smuggled some of his writings out of prison and apologized for having to lock his door at night! "Further, in his hearing before the Gestapo during his imprisonment, defenceless and powerless as he then was and only fortified by the word of God in his heart, he stood erect and unbroken before his tormentors. He refused to recant, and defied the Gestapo machine by openly admitting that, as a Christian, he was an implacable enemy of National Socialism and its totalitarian demands towards the citizen - defied it, although he was continually threatened with torture and with the arrest of his parents, his sisters and his fiancee, who all had a helping hand in his activities. ... We know from the testimony of a British officer, a fellow-prisoner, of the last service which Dietrich Bonhoeffer held on the day before his death and which 'moved all deeply, Catholics and Protestants alike, by his simple sincerity.' When trying afterwards to keep the imprisoned wives of men executed for their leadership in the plot against Hitler from depression and anxiety, he was taken away. We know that Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was never tried, went steadfastly on his last way to be hanged, and died with admirable calmness and dignity." Wow, wow, wow.

I was totally amazed by Bonhoeffer's life after reading this, and so was all that much more blown away when I read what he wrote in the Cost of Discipleship (and realized he would probably be very much opposed to me saying that he's the man... =\). He argues that the church has succumbed to a concept of cheap grace, where we are so desperately trying to get people "in" that we will let them (and ourselves) act any way that we want, as long as we say that we "believe," thereby contradicting ourselves by saying that we believe things that we won't actually commit to doing, and also making serious hypocrites out of ourselves. It's a little more complicated than that and much better explained, but basically he is saying that one cannot say one follows Jesus if one does not actually obey him. Then, he goes on to the stuff that really surprised me, taking such a humble view of any action on our part in our whole relationship with God: saying how God calls us and basically enables us to follow, how we are able to be like Jesus only because Jesus first became like us and brings his image to bear in us... There is not much room (if any) for thinking that any positive changes that happen in us, or any good actions that we do, are originated or resulting from ourselves; these things all come from God, and if we feel like we are becoming righteous or good, then, Bonhoeffer says, we'd better be repenting, because that thought shows that we are precisely not. These things, along with the extremely self-sacrificing, humble, pacifist, and dependent (on God) lifestyle that Bonhoeffer describes, are incredibly difficult to accept (and somewhat to understand, since sometimes his arguments get a little convoluted). The discipleship that Bonhoeffer talks about is so incredibly demanding and has such little room for ego appeasement within it that it not only seems nigh impossible, but almost completely unattractive, were it not for his repeated insistence that this is the path that true disciples should be treading. I would say that he says that the recompense, even in an earthly sense, is more than worth it, but I don't think he ever goes there, because I think he wants us not to follow Jesus for our own personal gain, but to follow because we are called, and should obey.

A very challenging book for me personally, and in truth, since I read it over such a large period of time, I don't feel like many of the points stuck with me (and part of that was probably purposeful, because what he said was so... radical and demanding). I hope that I will come back to this book again to re-read it in the future, and for now, am still amazed to see such an incredible person live and espouse such a humble, self-effacing, and self-denying lifestyle and life philosophy. Again, wow.