Week 8: The Hidden Righteousness — Piety in Secret

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?