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1. The Cost of Discipleship
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The Cost of DiscipleshipDescription
One of the most important theologians of the twentieth century illuminates the relationship between ourselves and the teachings of JesusWhat 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.
2. Ethics
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EthicsDescription
From one of the most important theologians of the twentieth century, Ethics is the seminal reinterpretation of the role of Christianity in the modern, secularized world.The Christian does not live in a vacuum, says the author, but in a world of government, politics, labor, and marriage. Hence, Christian ethics cannot exist in a vacuum; what the Christian needs, claims Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is concrete instruction in a concrete situation. Although the author died before completing his work, this book is recognized as a major contribution to Christian ethics.
The root and ground of Christian ethics, the author says, is the reality of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. This reality is not manifest in the Church as distinct from the secular world; such a juxtaposition of two separate spheres, Bonhoeffer insists, is a denial of Gods having reconciled the whole world to himself in Christ. On the contrary, Gods commandment is to be found and known in the Church, the family, labor, and government. His commandment permits man to live as man before God, in a world God made, with responsibility for the institutions of that world.
3. Ethics (Dietrich Bonhoeffer-Reader's Edition)
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Ethics is the culmination of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's theological and personal odyssey and one of the most important works of Christian ethics of the last century. Using the acclaimed DBWE translation, adapted to a more accessible format, this new edition features an insightful introduction by Clifford Green and supplemental material from Victoria J. Barnett.
Written in the midst of the conspiracy to overthrow the Hitler regime, it is nonetheless chiefly concerned with ethics for the postwar time of reconstruction and peace. Though caught up in the vortex of momentous forces in the Nazi period, Bonhoeffer systematically envisioned a radically Christocentric, incarnational ethic for a postwar world, purposefully recasting Christians' relation to history, politics, and public life. Focused on Christ, the God who became human, and the vision of a world reconciled with God, Ethics shuns abstraction, seeks the will of God in concrete historical reality, and calls the church to be a transforming community in the world with a new responsibility to public life.
This edition allows all readers to appreciate the cogency and relevance of Bonhoeffer's vision.
4. Ethics (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Vol. 6)
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The crown jewel of Bonhoeffer's body of work, Ethics is the culmination of his theological and personal odyssey. Based on careful reconstruction of the manuscripts, freshly and expertly translated and annotated, this new critical edition features an insightful Introduction by Clifford Green and an Afterword from the German edition's editors. Though caught up in the vortex of momentous forces in the Nazi period, Bonhoeffer systematically envisioned a radically Christocentric, incarnational ethic for a post-war world, purposefully recasting Christians' relation to history, politics, and public life. This edition allows scholars, theologians, ethicists, and serious Christians to appreciate the cogency and relevance of Bonhoeffer's vision.5. Ethics
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This is the last book that Bonhoeffer wrote before he was arrested by the Nazis. Pages of it were on his desk the day he was taken away and it remained unfinished. Bold, provocative and profound.6. Creation and Fall Temptation: Two Biblical Studies
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Creation and Fall Temptation Two Biblical StudiesDescription
In this enlightening study, renowned twentieth-century theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer offers a careful textual analysis of the story of creation, approaching the biblical tale of Genesis with the eye of a philosopher and the soul of a true Christian.Creation and Fall is Bonhoeffers lucid, brilliant analysis of the first three chapters of Genesis. Here he discusses the seeming scientific naivet behind the creation story, Gods love and goodness, and humanitys creation, its free will, and its blessedness. Bonhoeffer also tackles difficult questions that are raised from the first book of the Bible, questions about the seemingly redundant second story of creation, about Gods own beginning, about the source of the light that was created the first day. The author then expounds upon Adam and Eves fall from grace: How could they, creatures made in Gods image, have thought to oppose God so foully? Where did the first evil come from? How did humanity lose its right to live in paradise?
In Temptation, Bonhoeffer questions how temptation appeared in the midst of Edens innocence, and he explores the very nature of evil. Bonhoeffer explains that Jesus Christ helps us to understand and conquer physical and spiritual temptation through His grace and goodness.