AP

Six Steps on the Path of Discipleship
Sydney: Morning Star Publishing, 2019

The martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, hanged by the Nazis in 1945, is often portrayed in political terms, but he was a pastor who knew the depths of the human heart. So, for example, he pointed out that a love of interpretations often disguised an unwillingness to obey. There are many more such insights. To seek to avoid suffering was a way to allow Satan to enter the Church (Matt.16:21-23). Those who fear God will not fear the world. Bonhoeffer on discipleship is always pungent and heart-searching.

Lowe and Firth are sometimes askew with their applications. Bonhoeffer does have a way of appealing to all who wish to use him. He could be ambiguous, and once wrote that Christ forgives both Christians and heathens – whatever exactly he meant by that. This is the weakest part of the book. In the end, the best idea for the reader would be to go to the original sources, and read for himself or herself Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship.