the cost of discipleship by dietrich bonhoeffer

At Finkenwalde he found the type of work to which he could give himself whole-heartedly. In 1935, at the end of the first term, he wrote to his students that the months spent with them had constituted the fullest time of his life, both professionally and personally.

Back to the Sources ⤒ 🔗īonhoeffer cherished his work at Finkenwalde. In this article I focus on the second period, giving special attention to his view of Scripture, his work at the seminary, and his book on discipleship, which contained his New Testament teachings at the seminary. In these years he also introduced the ideas that would later be used to claim him as the father of various “progressive” theologies. His major work now was the Ethics, which remained unfinished at the time of his death. The third phase began around 1940 and lasted until his death in April 1945. During this period he published his two most popular writings, The Cost of Discipleship and Life Together. It was characterized by his participation in the church struggle (together with Karl Barth, Martin Niemöller, and others), his pastorate in London, and his work at the illegal Finkenwalde seminary. The first period lasted until 1930/31, when Bonhoeffer studied in New York, where he experienced a conversion. Bethge writes that Bonhoeffer’s adult life can be divided into three phases: that of the theologian, the Christian, and the “man of his times.” Much of Bonhoeffer’s work was collected and edited by his close friend Eberhard Bethge, a former student and the author of the definitive Bonhoeffer biography.

The cost of discipleship by dietrich bonhoeffer