Life Together and Prayerbook of the Bible

1 11 09 I just reread this book for another class I think it s my fourth reading now All I want to add is that this book gets better each time I m amazed by Bonhoeffer s insight and the understanding of God that informs the whole work It s small but packed with import You d think I would have learned its lessons in the first three readings, but I again found myself deeply challenged about my own behavior in Christian community This one is worth coming back to again and again 4 1 07 I re read thi [...]

SO convicting If the church truly looked like this, the world would have no choice but to look and see what this was all about.My pastor said a few weeks ago in Sunday service that we come together not as a judge on The Voice, deciding whether to turn around because we like the music or the person beside us or the sermon For some reason that has stuck so closely with me for weeks now and has freed me tremendously I think somewhere along the way I exchanged discernment a good and necessary thing [...]

In Life Together Bonhoeffer gives us penetrating definitions of human and spiritual love, just as he outlined the distinction between cheap and costly grace in The Cost of Discipleship Listening to him give specific after specific, you get the decided impression he has lived the experience of which writes Well could I get lost in his requirements, for often have I strayed down the paths of human love not realizing what a poor substitute it was for the real thing not speaking for anyone but mysel [...]

Whenever I read how to books, I skip to end the consider the actual bio of the person Does the person have a life narrative I admire Would I actually want to be like them If so, perhaps I ll take their advice So here s Bonhoeffer Nazi resister, Gandhi liaison, secret super spy pastor An amazing spirit, executed in a concentration camp, after laying a foundation for modern hearts to follow Christ What a dude I want to be like him, but maybe not in the exact manner he lays out here This book is es [...]

Read 2013 2014Technically, my third time reading this book First time solo second with wife third with community group Friends, I cannot overstate how good this book is My marginal notes exponentially increase with every read If you haven t read this classic on Christian community, please read it this year I can think of few other books that will be a help in marriage, humble you in relationships, increase your love for the church and your appreciation of the grace of community like Bonhoeffer s [...]

1 There is value in disillusionment with fellow Christians so to avoid seeing fellowship as an extraordinary social experience 2 God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of a man 3 The Psalter is the vicarious prayer of Christ for His churche new Humanity of Christ, the Body continues to pray His prayerat is why the prayer of the Psalms belongs the fellowship 4 Only in the infiniteness of Scripture s inner relationships, in the connect [...]

In my book club, we finished reading Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer It is a fantastic book that I will probably return to and read again hopefully each year It is a short read, my version has 147 pages, but it is filled with wisdom and biblical truth s The book is about living life together in Christian community The chapters breakdown the different aspects of life together.The book starts with an introduction that gives a background on Bonhoeffer and his life He was born in 1906 and was m [...]

What an amazing little book I believe every Christian should read this at least once if not every year It is definitely a must read A Christian fellowship lives and exists by the intercession of its members for one another, or it collapses I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me His face, that hitherto may have been strange and intolerable to me, is transformed in intercession into the countenance of a brother for whom Christ died, the f [...]

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together London SCM Press, 1962 A bold and penetrating book challenging Christians to the life of community, which is to say, a life of Cross centred living Chapters 1.Community.2.The Day with Others.3.The Day Alone.4.Ministry.5.Confession and Communion Memorable quotes include Ch.1 Community It is easily forgotten that the fellowship of Christian brethren is a gift of grace, a gift of the Kingdom of God that any day may be taken from us One who wants than what Christ [...]

I have now read this book three times, and I continue to benefit from the practical wisdom contained in it I don t give out five star ratings very often, but this one deserves it Bonhoeffer s directions for life in Christian community, including family life, are biblical and convicting I don t necessarily endorse Bonhoeffer s theology as a whole or his other writings I understand that he was Neo Orthodox, so do be aware of that influence , but I do recommend this book I will likely re read this [...]

This is an excellent book about what it means to live in Biblical community There is an abundance of wisdom in this work that can be applied in any context of community At the same time, there is also an abundance of dogmatic prescriptions of how to go about every aspect of devotional life, at a level that is obviously excessive It is important to read with discernment, and when recommending the book to others, to be wise in the maturity of the one to whom you recommend it.

Really, really good stuff here At times it was a little over my head and I wished he d had some specific instructions regarding some issues and situations, and at other times I was like, whoa, way too specific But for the most part, it was just solid theology about how Christians should be living with and supporting each other.

This is one of the most encouraging, eye opening books I have read during my christian walk It was such an encouragement and very convicting, especially the Ministry chapter A must read for every christian

The last chapter is worth a reread every month as a devotional, especially before partaking in the Lord s Supper He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy Pr.28 13

Solid teaching I zipped through this am now rereading each morning as part of my devotions.

A remarkable journey through life in the community, its necessity, and its supreme need for the individual I will re read this book next year.

Born in 1906, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and theologian who opposed the rise of Hitler and his Nazi government when the majority of church leaders voted to support the new regime At age 27 Bonhoeffer fled Germany and became the pastor of two German speaking churches in London, England Two years later in 1935 he returned to Nazi controlled Germany to help established an underground, illegal seminary for pastors Bonhoeffer also got caught up in the shifting political winds of the coun [...]

Bonhoeffer s thoughts on Christian community are made even poignant when you recognize the time and place from which they were penned Nazi Germany , and yet they have a lot to say to the current state of Christianity particularly in America Bonhoeffer illustrates a christo centric way of life, lived out together in community with one another While I disagree with his desire for a monastic community in general not necessarily explicitly mentioned in this book , this is basically a blueprint on [...]

July 27, 2011AD This short book has only an introduction and five chapters, but oh how profound are the thoughts contained therein I have only just finished through the first chapter Community and found numerous passages to quote Many of the reviews on this book quote copiously from the text, but I will still add to the din I will be reading this again periodically as I try to internalize these ideas This passage reminds me to pray for my brothers around the world, it is also a comfort to me in [...]

Life Together, published in German in 1938, then translated into English in 1956, is Dietrich Bonhoeffer s prescriptive for disciplined fruitful Christian life as it is lived in community, whether as the typical family unit or in a communal setting.Bonhoeffer had been living and working in London as pastor of two congregations as he had chosen to leave Germany due to what, translator, John W Doberstein explains was his conviction that German Christian relations had been compromised in their rel [...]

Life Together might be Bonhoeffer s most practical book theology with its work clothes on He was addressing Christian community It surprised me that he addressed some sections specifically to Christian families, although it shouldn t have After all, that is a form of community most Christians will be involved in for at least a portion of their lives He is quite specific in suggesting how families should live, not only saying that they should sing but what they should sing first Reformation chora [...]

A little book that should be read slowly Not all that Bonhoeffer says could be universally applied to every form of Christian community But he is thoughtful and certain things he says makes you aware that he has walked with Christ in community into deep waters.

Bonhoeffer on the Christian community We have one another only through Christ, but through Christ we do have one another, wholly, and for all eternity That dismisses once and for all every clamorous desire for something One who wants than what Christ has established does not want Christian brotherhood He is looking for some extraordinary social experience which he has not found elsewhere he is bringing muddled and impure desires into Christian brotherhood Just at this point Christian brotherho [...]

A book that cost you less than 1 The language is of it s time so it can feel dry and boring, but the message and the man it is coming from is powerful in truth, hope, and practicality.

I loved this little book It s a quick read, and full of profound thoughts on living in community This is one I hope to revisit from time to time.

having realized now that I wrote in this review the words an advisory of suggestions I feel I should mention that I m in a post intense writing class teaching day state, which means, though I may feel rather hyped at the moment, my brain is not necessarily at its clearest I shudder to think what I will notice and think a blatantly obvious mistake when I reread this later I have mislaid my hard copy which I read in 2006 or 2007 in a box of books somewhere on the other side of the world, so grabbe [...]

We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God God will be constantly crossing our paths and cancelling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions We may pass them by, preoccupied with our important tasks, as the priest passed by the man who had fallen among thieves, perhaps reading the Bible When we do that we pass by the visible sign of the Cross raised athwart our path to show us that, not our way, but God s way must be done It is strange fact that Christians and [...]

Bonhoeffer reminds me of C.S Lewis in that there are things I wish he had said, but didn t and at times things I wish he hadn t said, but did However, there is so much wisdom, so many paragraphs that bring us back to the essentials of Christian community, such a great understanding of human nature and sin, that Life Together was well worth the read Several parts greatly impressed me.First, his discussion of Christian community as a grace and work of Christ was excellent Second, his section on co [...]

5 stars for the first and fourth sections Community and Ministry for the beauty of the writer s use of biblical truth in outlining why we live in community and how to do it in a way that shines God s truth on our lives together 1 star for middle sections The day with others and The day alone in which Bonhoeffer declared in no uncertain terms exactly how the structure of prayer and fellowship with one s community should go down to the final detail Example the free prayer at the close of the devot [...]

Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy The fact is that we are sinners Pg 110 So how do we, as sinners saved by grace, live and grow in community with each other Life Together is a collection of Christian indicatives and imperatives sorted by Dietrich Bonhoeffer for the purpose of outlining what the structure of Christian community can should look like While there are no [...]