This book deserves to be read, primarily for the first section on grace and discipleship. Bonhoeffer challenged my thinking in regards to radically pursuing Christ. The second section of the book proved to be encouraging, though I am not sure that I quite agree how Bonhoeffer uses the text of the Beatitudes. His conclusions are great, I'm just not sure if I would get there the same way. The final section, the Church, proved to be a bit more difficult to read. This section seemed ethereal, because he uses language that is not concrete in describing the nature of the church. I believe that this section reveals that Bonhoeffer's Christology is not quite evangelical. However, because I had difficulty interpreting all that he was communicating in this section, I hesitate making that claim based on the last section of this book.

I encourage reading The Cost of Discipleship because I believe that great portions of the book will challenge thinking and stimulate spiritual meditations. However, while reading, seek to bring the ethereal third chapter down to earth instead of just soaking it up.