Book Club Questions for The Cost of Discipleship

1.Bonhoeffer's opening salvo is: "Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church." Before engaging his argument, what does that phrase stir up in you? Does it sound liberating, alarming, or unfair?

2.Bonhoeffer defines cheap grace as "the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession." In your own words, what makes grace "cheap" in his framework — and why does he call it deadly rather than merely inadequate?

3.He then defines costly grace: "It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life." How does this paradox — that the most demanding thing is also the most freeing — sit with you? Can you think of an experience in your own life where something costly turned out to be genuinely freeing?

1.Bonhoeffer draws attention to the sheer immediacy of the disciples' response in the Gospels: they left their nets and their tax booth "at once," without theological deliberation. Why does he think this immediacy is theologically significant, rather than merely dramatic?

2.He argues that the call of Jesus creates an "either/or" — there is no middle ground between following and not following. How does this challenge the way discipleship is often presented today as a gradual process of spiritual growth that doesn't require decisive breaks?

3.Bonhoeffer makes a famous distinction: obedience must come before understanding. He says that if Levi had stayed at his tax booth to "think it over" spiritually, he would never have come to faith at all. Do you agree? Can you think of a situation where acting in obedience preceded and produced understanding?

1.Bonhoeffer describes what he calls "the great divide" between those who hear Jesus' words and do them, and those who hear and do not. He says this divide is not between serious and casual Christians but between disciples and non-disciples. Does that strike you as too sharp a distinction, or does it ring true?

2.He argues that the moment we begin to ask "How far does the command go?" or "What is the minimum required?" we have already stepped off the path of discipleship. Why does asking about limits reveal a divided heart rather than theological precision?

3.Bonhoeffer takes seriously the radical sayings of Jesus — "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out" — and refuses to spiritualize them away into general principles. What does this approach demand of us as readers of the Sermon on the Mount? Are there commands of Jesus you have been tempted to domesticate into something more manageable?

1.Bonhoeffer writes that "to endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ." What distinction is he drawing between the crosses Christians are called to bear and the ordinary suffering that comes to everyone in a fallen world?

2.He argues that the cross is not chosen by the disciple — it is laid upon us by our allegiance to Jesus in a world that rejected him. How does this change the way we might think about difficulties in our own lives? Which hardships in your life might be crosses, and which are simply troubles?

3.Bonhoeffer makes the arresting claim that Jesus' call to "deny yourself" means to say "no" to the self — to cease treating the self as the reference point of all decisions. How is this different from ordinary self-discipline or self-improvement?

1.Bonhoeffer argues that discipleship creates a new kind of individual — one who has been separated from all previous attachments and securities and placed in direct relationship with Christ. He calls this a "mediation" — Christ stands between the disciple and everything else. How does this image reshape how you think about your closest relationships?

2.He describes the community of the Beatitudes as "a community of those who are utterly lost" — the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek. Why does Jesus begin his manifesto for the kingdom with this catalogue of apparent weaknesses rather than virtues?

3.Bonhoeffer insists that "poor in spirit" does not mean a spiritual attitude — it means actual poverty, actual renunciation of possessions and status for the sake of the kingdom. How does this more concrete reading challenge or clarify your understanding of the Beatitude?

1.Bonhoeffer argues that the community of disciples is called to be the salt of the earth — but that salt which has lost its flavor is good for nothing. He connects the loss of flavor directly to the loss of costly grace. How does a church that has embraced cheap grace lose its saltiness? Can you give a concrete example?

2.He insists that the disciples' good works must be visible — "a city on a hill cannot be hidden" — not so that the disciples receive praise, but so that the Father is glorified. What is the difference between visibility that glorifies God and visibility that glorifies us? How do you tell which is which in your own life?

3.Bonhoeffer argues that the church is meant to be a visible community, not a collection of privately spiritual individuals. He is deeply suspicious of a Christianity that retreats into inner spiritual life and abandons the visible, corporate witness. How does this challenge the individualistic spirituality common in our culture?

1.Bonhoeffer reads the antitheses not as Jesus tightening the law into an impossible demand but as Jesus revealing the full human depth the law always intended to reach — anger is the heart of murder, lust is the heart of adultery. How does this reframe the purpose of the law? Is Jesus liberating or convicting you as you read this?

2.On anger: Bonhoeffer says that anger, even when "righteous," sets us up as judge over our brother — and that Jesus cuts off this self-appointment. He connects this to the command to be reconciled before bringing your gift to the altar. Is there a relationship in your life where you are carrying anger that makes worship hollow?

3.On lust: Bonhoeffer takes seriously Jesus' command to "tear out your eye" if it causes you to sin — not literally, but as a genuine call to radical action against sources of temptation. He says disciples must be prepared to "sacrifice" the thing that, while not sinful in itself, becomes a gateway to sin. What specific disciplines or decisions might this require in your life?

1.Bonhoeffer argues that "righteous" acts done to be seen by others — almsgiving, prayer, fasting — are not discipleship but its imitation, and he calls this the "most dangerous" form of religious corruption. Why is religious performance more dangerous than open irreligion?

2.He says that the left hand must not know what the right hand is doing — the disciple's good deeds must become so genuinely selfless that the disciple himself scarcely notices them. What is the spiritual discipline this requires? Can you honestly say your acts of generosity are hidden in this way?

3.On prayer: Bonhoeffer presents the Lord's Prayer as the model prayer of the disciple community — a prayer that begins with "Our Father" and immediately places us in the community of Christ's disciples rather than in individual spiritual isolation. How does praying the Lord's Prayer in community change its meaning compared to praying it alone?

1.Bonhoeffer writes that anxiety is the natural result of trying to secure your own life — it is what happens when your eye is not "single" but divided between God and possessions. He says the antidote is not positive thinking but a reorientation of the whole self toward God. How does this connect to what he said earlier about single-minded obedience?

2."Consider the lilies" — Bonhoeffer takes seriously Jesus' appeal to the natural world as a theological argument: the birds and flowers are cared for by God without securing themselves. He says disciples are invited into this same creaturely trust. Does this feel naïve to you, or does it penetrate something real about your anxiety?

3.On judging others: Bonhoeffer argues that the disciple is not released from moral discernment — we must still know right from wrong — but we are released from the role of judge over our brother's soul. What is the difference between discernment and judgment in his framework?

1.Bonhoeffer opens this section with Jesus' compassion for the crowds "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." He insists that this compassion is the motive for mission — not strategy, not church growth, but the suffering of people who have no shepherd. Does compassion or strategy more often drive your involvement in outreach?

2.He notes that Jesus tells his disciples to "pray the Lord of the harvest to send out workers" — and then immediately sends them. Prayer and mission are inseparable in the text. How does your experience of prayer connect to (or disconnect from) your engagement in mission?

3.The disciples are sent with nothing — no bag, no money, no extra tunic. Bonhoeffer reads this radical dependence not as an ascetic ideal but as a theological statement: the messenger must not be distracted by material security. How does material security either enable or impede your witness today?

1.Bonhoeffer argues that the church is the body of Christ — not metaphorically or institutionally, but ontologically. Christ takes form in the world through this community. What does it mean for your understanding of church attendance, church membership, and church conflict if this is true?

2.He writes about the process of being "conformed to the image of Christ" — not through moral effort but through the Spirit's work in and through the church community. How does Christian community, rather than private spirituality, become the primary arena of transformation?

3.Bonhoeffer is sharply critical of a visible church that has accommodated itself to the world — a church that looks like the culture around it in its values, ambitions, and methods. He wrote this in Germany in the 1930s. Where do you see the church of your own time and place making similar accommodations?

1.Bonhoeffer argues that human beings were created in the image of God and that this image was shattered in the fall. The entire work of salvation — and of discipleship — is its restoration. How does framing discipleship as image-restoration change its emotional register? Does it feel more like recovery or more like achievement?

2.He argues that Christ is not only the model we imitate but the one into whose image we are being transformed by the Spirit. This is different from moral effort — it is a participation in Christ's own death and resurrection. How do you experience this transformation? Is it happening in your life — slowly, resistantly, unevenly?

3.Bonhoeffer describes the crucified Christ as the one who reveals what the image of God actually looks like — not power and self-sufficiency but self-giving love. This is a radical claim. Does it change the way you think about what it means to be fully human?

1.When you began this book, how would you have defined discipleship? How would you define it now? What is the most significant change in your understanding?

2.Bonhoeffer's central distinction is between cheap grace and costly grace. Which side of that line do you think your Christian life has been living on — honestly? Has reading the book moved you at all, or has it only confirmed what you already believed?

3.Which chapter or section was most personally convicting for you? What specific truth did it bring home, and what has changed (or needs to change) in your actual behavior or habits as a result?