I'm nothing short of impressed by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In Cost of Discipleship, he moves through the Sermon on the Mount and other teachings of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew--commenting on their implications for the Christian believer. At every turn he reminds the reader that the life of discipleship is a costly one which puts the believer in sole reliance upon the Word of God. The Word alone is the disciple's source of identity and direction which moves the disciple through a hostile world. And the Word of God is nothing the believer possesses as his own, rather the Word of God both judges the disciple and calls the disciple to obedience. Bonhoeffer is clear that our pretenses to take refuge in our efforts, in our self-recognition, or virtue are all overturned by the Word which calls us to discipleship, but our security and reward are established in Christ who is "for us" without being ours to own. "Of course the righteousness of the disciples can never be a personal achievement; it is always a gift, which they received when they were called to follow him." (125) For Bonhoeffer, discipleship consists of single-minded obedience--undivided and unswearving faithfulness to Jesus in his suffering.
There are a few times when I think Bonhoeffer would make a good Anabaptist, especially in his chapters addressing revenge and love of enemies. In the former, he reflects on Jesus' command to "Resist not evil" (Matt. 5:38-42). Here he explicitly opposes the traditional interpretation of this passage offered by Reformers who distinguished between the evil suffered by the person as such and the evil suffered as one who holds a public office. For the Reformers, the call to "resist not evil" only applies to the evil suffered personally, but it does not apply to instances when one suffers evil while holding an ordained office. For example, according to the Reformers, Jesus' commandment of nonviolence applies to the individual who is mugged and beaten while strolling through the city, but it does not apply to the judge or the military officer who oppose criminals and foreign enemies with violence. Bonhoeffer writes:
"The distinction between person and office is wholly alien to the teachings of Jesus. He says nothing about that. He addresses his disicples as men who have left allto follow him, teh precept of non-violence applies equally to private life and official duty. He is the Lord of all life, and demands undivided allegiance." (143).
And, in addition to evoking the sovereignty of Christ over the life of the believer, Bonhoeffer also explains the difficulty found in such a distinction between private life and the public sphere.
"Am I ever acting only as a private person or only in an official capacity? If I am attacked am I not at once the father of my children, the pastor of my flock, and e.g. a government official? Am I not bound for that very reason to defend myself against every attack, for reason of responsibility to my office?" (143).
By removing the distinction between the private and the public sphere, by understanding that Jesus' commandment to nonviolence remains no matter the capacity in which the individual acts, Bonhoeffer makes a move in an Anabaptist direction which rejected Luther's claim that Christians must live in the two kingdoms--that of the world and that of the Church.
Moreover, in accordance with themes of the Anabaptist tradition, Bonhoeffer sees the call to love one's enemies, not as an unrealistic command where, by issuing it, our ethical limitations are revealed. He again refuses to make the distinction between acting in a private vs. public capacity. Rather, "love is defined in uncompromising terms as the love of our enemies," (146). He also writes, "Christian love draws no distinction between one enemy and another, except that the more bitter our enemy's hatred, the greater his need of love," (148). While he ultimately refuses to make the leap into the Anabaptst pool, he reads his Lutheran tradition with a lens that refuses to allow Christians to live comfortably in the kingdom of the world, challenges them to nonviolence, and demands full adherence to the teachings of Christ in the total life of the believer. Our remaining in the world in our worldly capacities is depended on the degree to which our worldly duties and obligations are in alignment/conflict with the call to obedience.
Finally, for Bonhoeffer, discipleship means nothing less than suffering and being joined to Christ's suffering. For Bonhoeffer, suffering is the result of the self-renunciation demanded by the call upon our lives by the Word. We suffer as we give up the securities of worldly peace, dignity, self-assertion, or guarantees to life. However, suffering is not only necessary for embarking upon the life of faith, it is the very mark of discipleship. Suffering is the Christians' response to evil and suffering is found on the cross as the extraordinary: the place where unconditional love for one's enemies is made present. He even writes:
"Discipleship means allegiance to the sufferings of Christ, and it is therefore not at all surprising that Christians should be called upon to suffer. In fact it is a joy and a token of his grace. The acts of the early Christian martyrs are full of evidence which shows how Christ transfigures for his own the hour of their mortal agony by granting them the unspeakable assurance of his presence. In the hour of the cruellest torture they bear for his sake, they are made partakers in the perfect joy and bliss of fellowship with him. To bear the cross proves to be the only way of triumphing over suffering." (91)
This is his only text I've read so far, but I found a few themes lacking in his discussion of discipleship, particularly the Spirit and the resurrection. The Spirit gets brief mention during his chapters on ecclesiology, but isn't the power the Spirit central to the life of the individual disciple? Similarly, what is the role of the resurrection in the life of the disciple? Eventually, Bonhoeffer mentions explicitly, yet in passing, what is, in fact, essential to the entire discussion of suffering and discipleship:
"But between the death of Christ and the apostolic gospel of the cross there lay the resurrection, which alone gives the cross its redemptive power. The gospel of Christ crucified is always the gospel of him who was not held by death." (276)
The resurrection must always be present whenever Christians look to the cross, contemplate suffering, and think upon their own call to suffer. Without it, as Bonhoeffer eventually mentions, the Good News isn't good news at all.
