The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Week 11: The Church and the World — The Body of Christ
Read Chapters 27-30 of The Cost of Discipleship (on the community of Jesus, the image of Christ, the visible church, and the saints). Key passages: Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4.
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In the final section of the book, Bonhoeffer moves from the individual disciple to the corporate body — the church is not a voluntary association of like-minded individuals but the continuation of the incarnation.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.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?
a.Are there accommodations your own church community has made that concern you?
b.What would it cost your community to resist those accommodations?
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