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Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community
Scritto da Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Narrato da Paul Michael
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After his martyrdom at the hands of the Gestapo in 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer continued his witness in the hearts of Christians around the world. His Letters and Papers from Prison became a prized testimony to Christian faith and courage, read by thousands. Now in Life Together we have Pastor Bonhoeffer's experience of Christian community.
This story of a unique fellowship in an underground seminary during the Nazi years reads like one of Paul's letters. It gives practical advice on how life together in Christ can be sustained in families and groups. The role of personal prayer, worship in common, everyday work, and Christian service is treated in simple, almost biblical, words. Life Together is bread for all who are hungry for the real life of Christian fellowship.
An EChristian, Inc production.
Azioni libro
Inizia ad ascoltareInformazioni sul libro
Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community
Scritto da Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Narrato da Paul Michael
Descrizione
After his martyrdom at the hands of the Gestapo in 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer continued his witness in the hearts of Christians around the world. His Letters and Papers from Prison became a prized testimony to Christian faith and courage, read by thousands. Now in Life Together we have Pastor Bonhoeffer's experience of Christian community.
This story of a unique fellowship in an underground seminary during the Nazi years reads like one of Paul's letters. It gives practical advice on how life together in Christ can be sustained in families and groups. The role of personal prayer, worship in common, everyday work, and Christian service is treated in simple, almost biblical, words. Life Together is bread for all who are hungry for the real life of Christian fellowship.
An EChristian, Inc production.
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Recensioni
This is definitely in my re-read list. It's one that needs to be gone over again and again, to chew on.
Rating: 5"Reading Bonhoeffer is incredibly convicting." That was my friend's opinion when I mentioned this book, and he is absolutely right.
Bonhoeffer was the German pastor convicted, imprisoned, and executed for speaking out against Hitler and eventually scheming to assassinate him. As with his opposition to Fascism, Bonhoeffer lived out each one of his beliefs. That biographical tidbit makes every one of his books more amazing; his strong rhetoric is not simply hopeful. Bonhoeffer walked the talk.
In this book, Bonhoeffer explored the role of Christian community, which he imagines as a small, familial fellowship of believers. Christians, in Bonhoeffer's world, meet together morning and night, before and after their workdays. For that reason, Life Together includes strong opinions about how a community should do daily reading and prayer. Modern Christians may be put off by the depth of involvement Bonhoeffer expects from them, particularly in the chapter entitled "The Day with Others."
The other chapters are devoted to the nature of Christian community, the need for silence and solitude, the role of ministry in community, and the need for confession and communion. Bonhoeffer's praise of solitude echoes Blaise Pascal, when he writes:
"Many people seek fellowship because they are afraid to be alone. Because they cannot stand loneliness, they are driven to seek the company of other people. ... The person who comes into a fellowship because he is running away from himself is misusing it for the sake of diversion, no matter how spiritual this diversion may appear."
I commend this book to you, because it will challenge you to invest more time, energy, and prayer in your local Christian community. Bonhoeffer elevates Christ in all things, and he illustrates beautifully the role individual Christians play in proclaiming Christ. It will encourage you to pursue life together.
Rating: 4Bonhoeffer was the German pastor convicted, imprisoned, and executed for speaking out against Hitler and eventually scheming to assassinate him. As with his opposition to Fascism, Bonhoeffer lived out each one of his beliefs. That biographical tidbit makes every one of his books more amazing; his strong rhetoric is not simply hopeful. Bonhoeffer walked the talk.
In this book, Bonhoeffer explored the role of Christian community, which he imagines as a small, familial fellowship of believers. Christians, in Bonhoeffer's world, meet together morning and night, before and after their workdays. For that reason, Life Together includes strong opinions about how a community should do daily reading and prayer. Modern Christians may be put off by the depth of involvement Bonhoeffer expects from them, particularly in the chapter entitled "The Day with Others."
The other chapters are devoted to the nature of Christian community, the need for silence and solitude, the role of ministry in community, and the need for confession and communion. Bonhoeffer's praise of solitude echoes Blaise Pascal, when he writes:
"Many people seek fellowship because they are afraid to be alone. Because they cannot stand loneliness, they are driven to seek the company of other people. ... The person who comes into a fellowship because he is running away from himself is misusing it for the sake of diversion, no matter how spiritual this diversion may appear."
I commend this book to you, because it will challenge you to invest more time, energy, and prayer in your local Christian community. Bonhoeffer elevates Christ in all things, and he illustrates beautifully the role individual Christians play in proclaiming Christ. It will encourage you to pursue life together.
This is a challenging book on Christian living. Bonhofer builds a solid, scriptural argument that will test your faith and challenge the reader to new levels of sanctification..
Rating: 4Good book. It's a short read that feels like a long read because there are so many things in the book I needed to think about carefully. I ultimately disagree with some of the extremities to which Bonhoeffer tries to take us (I felt the same in The Cost of Discipleship), but he's certainly pointing in the right direction.
Rating: 4This is a six-star book. Heck, call it eleven stars. Absolutely classic.
Life Together was young Dietrich Bonhoeffer's manifesto about the Christian community, written as he was leading an underground seminary for the confessing church under Nazi German rule. The members of the seminary knew that they would be executed if they were found; Bonhoeffer was martyred in the process.
Still, the book deals with the everyday nature of conflict and falling short between one person and another; it drives us into deeper relationship and forgiveness and community.
I'll teach from this book in academic and lay coursework around spiritual formation in communities and networks. It's a bit Lutheran and liturgical in some spots for some readers, but it's overwhelmingly powerful throughout.
Rating: 5Life Together was young Dietrich Bonhoeffer's manifesto about the Christian community, written as he was leading an underground seminary for the confessing church under Nazi German rule. The members of the seminary knew that they would be executed if they were found; Bonhoeffer was martyred in the process.
Still, the book deals with the everyday nature of conflict and falling short between one person and another; it drives us into deeper relationship and forgiveness and community.
I'll teach from this book in academic and lay coursework around spiritual formation in communities and networks. It's a bit Lutheran and liturgical in some spots for some readers, but it's overwhelmingly powerful throughout.
Amazing. One of the greatest presentations of true Biblical community. A must read for every follower of Christ.
Rating: 5A book written with the authority of a man who not only spent much time in thoughtful community, but also died a martyr to his beliefs at the hands of the Nazi regime. He begins this book with a description of what a community is not. It is not the wish dream of a visionary, but rather the functioning of a group that centers on the truth of God's Word in the realistic setting of a broken world. He maintains, "Just as surely as God desires to lead us to a knowledge of genuine Christian fellowship, so surely must we be overwhelmed by a great disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and, if we are fortunate, with ourselves. By sheer grace, God will not permit us to live even for a brief period in a dream world." He proceeds to our need to give the other person in the community the freedom of being who he was by God created to be and not what we may construct as our ideal for him to be. Judgmentalism is immediately flagged as crucial. "There is no time to lose here, for from the first moment when a man meets another person he is looking for a strategic position he can assume and hold over against that person." Other points for life in a fellowship include the ministry of holding one's tongue, meekness, listening, helpfulness, bearing, proclaiming and authority. The book ends with a very important chapter on confession. Bonhoeffer explains, "He who is alone with his sin in utterly alone...Sin demands to have a man by himself. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disatrous is his isolation. It shuns the light." A book of profound power brought from the life of a man dedicated to the truth even unto death.
Rating: 5Written on the eve of WWII, by this Bonhoeffer, who was matyred by the Nazi's in 1945. A challenge to live in community
Rating: 3As a person living in Christian community, I find Bonhoeffer's advice to keep God's view of community in mind rather than one's own "wish dream" to be very helpful. "The serious Christian, set down for the first time in a Christian community, is likely to bring with him a very definite idea of what Christian life together should be and to try to realize it. But God's grace speedily shatters such dreams. Just as surely as God desires to lead us to a knowledge of genuine Christian fellowship, so surely must we be overwhelmed by a great disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and, if we are fortunate, with ourselves." pp. 26-27Bonhoeffer goes on to give much helpful advice, particularly for servant leadership and healthy confession of sins one to another.
Rating: 4It is some time since reading this - I lent my copy and haven't seen it for a while. It is a densely written and quite fervent exploration of communal christian living with a strong orthodox tone adapted to unorthodox times. I was surprised to see the passage on individual confession and impressed by its overall intensity. A kind of Imitation of Christ for the modern world - however I believe Bonhoeffer himself would move away from this degree of formal religiosity as his thought developed.
Rating: 3This story of a unique fellowship in an underground seminary during the Nazi years reads like one of Paul's letters. It gives practical advice on how life together in Christ can be sustained in families and groups. The role of personal prayer, worship in common, everyday work, and Christian service is treated in simple, almost biblical, words. Life Together is bread for all who are hungry for the real life of Christian fellowship.
Rating: 3I think this is one of the great Christian books and should be read by anyone interested in Christian community.
Rating: 5
I loved the opportunity to listen and learn the areas of a christian community. I am really encourage by the ministries of service in the Christian Community. I need to learn more how serve others listening, helping and bearing their burden.
Me encantó poder escuchar y aprender más sobre las áreas de la comunidad cristiana y algo que puedo resaltar es que aprender a escuchar, ser de ayuda y llevar la carga de los demás, los los tres primeros ministerios de la comunidad cristiana.
Rating: 5Me encantó poder escuchar y aprender más sobre las áreas de la comunidad cristiana y algo que puedo resaltar es que aprender a escuchar, ser de ayuda y llevar la carga de los demás, los los tres primeros ministerios de la comunidad cristiana.
Bonhoeffer, interested in what defines a Christian community, created one within his seminary in Finkenwalde, a suburb near pre-WWII Berlin, Germany. Although the seminary was closed by a pro-Nazi bishop, the content of Life Together is applicable for any Christian community. The structure of this book includes Bonhoeffer's reflections on the Christian community and what sets it apart from other communities, the need for a Christ-centered daily experience, meditative prayer, service to others, and the healing power of confession. This book is ideal for group discussion and ends with a series of questions for self-reflection or group discussion.
Rating: 3A wonderful book on Christian fellowship - its preciousness and how to live it out well. Both comforting and convicting. The kind of book that I'd like to listen to/read every year or two.
Rating: 5
Best book on Christian community that I have come across. Must read for any believer.
Rating: 5
Great view of life as the church of Christ . While written arount WW II era,still applicable today
Rating: 5This book offends the soul in the best possible way.
Rating: 5This was nothing more than the author's personal fantasy; chocked full of speculation and bold assertions. Any person who claims to know what god knows/thinks/wants, is either lying or delusional. Some of the ideas expressed in this book seem innocente enough but there were some very dangerous ideas in here and to follow them could get you killed (or worse).
Rating: 2Modern social definitions of community focus on geographical and political union, and this focus has contributed somewhat to a recession and reduction of a sound doctrine of the church (Ecclesiology). For the church and the world, the carnal has largely replaced the spiritual. Life Together (New York: Harper and Row, 1954) may be a panacea for this ill that will also cultivate a desire for Christian fellowship in the greater context of the communion of the saints. A man who was martyred for his faith, Dietrich Bonhoeffer's (1906-1945) conviction was forged in context of German dialectical theology and the fires of Nazi Germany. This context is essential to understanding Bonhoeffer’s emphases.The Introduction, written by the book’s Translator, John W. Doberstein, succinctly provides a historical background. The biographical history specifically germane to the topic is the period starting from April 1935, when, by invitation of the anti-Nazi Confessing Church, Bonhoeffer assists in the establishment of a seminary by the Baltic Sea at Zingst, where Bonhoeffer lived “a common life in emergency-built houses with twenty-five vicars.” (p. 11). Life together was moved shortly after to Finkenwalde in Pomerania, and it was Bonhoeffer’s experience and mediations during this time that led to the publication of Gemeinsames Leben in 1938. Another well-known book, The Cost of Discipleship, was also written during this period.Bonhoeffer’s understanding of life together under the Word (p. 17) is the subject of his relatively small treatise. He draws out his definition of community as being lived in the midst of one’s enemies and oppressors (Chapter I, Community); its commonality expressed in worship, the use of the Psalter, the reading of Scripture, prayer, and the fellowship we enjoy at meals (Chapter II, The Day with Others); its individuality in engaging in both solitude and silence as stillness before the Word (Chapter III, The Day Alone); mutual service and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ (Chapter IV, Ministry); and, how sinners can and may exhibit the love of God in Christ to one another (Chapter V, Confession and Communion).Postmodern and post-Christian paradigms emphasize an ethos of getting together to do meaningful things, but meaning is derived from the experience, not principles that drive the events, and especially not from principles revealed to us in Scripture. Perhaps Bonhoeffer himself over-emphasized experience, but what makes Bonhoeffer compelling in this book is that he speaks—albeit without much citation—biblical truths that have gone largely by the wayside in evangelical circles: an emphasis on listening to God’s Word; spiritual, Christ-centered and other-focused love; self-denial; seeing Christ in others; an emphasis on union—we are members of one Body—and community; and suffering.Bonhoeffer’s writings, and seminally, his doctoral dissertation Sanctorum Communio (The Communion of Saints), are problematic for both what he does and does not say. For example, in his doctoral thesis he wrote that Christ is present only in the community of the church: “…Christ himself is the community…Christ is present only in the community.” (A Testament to Freedom, pp. 56-57). This is to this reviewer’s mind a con-fusion of Christ with the Body of Christ for which he gave himself: one could easily end up neglecting God’s transcendence by overemphasizing the Incarnation. In other words, as I read this book, I wondered if Bonhoeffer wasn’t having Humanity swallow Deity.Nonetheless, while it may be true that Bonhoeffer’s novel, neo-orthodox existentialism and his ecumenism are objectionable issues; that he was a theologian who espoused experience over theology; or that (reputedly) in following Barth he laid the groundwork for Death of God Theology: in reading Life Together I was often reminded that miserable sinners need mercy—from God and from one another—and as we walk our own Via Dolorosa with Jesus it is good to have the company of those who think of themselves as sinners getting sanctified. Whatever Bonhoeffer’s failings, identifying this basic truth wasn’t one of them.Some favorite quotations are:“Christian community is like the Christian's sanctification. It is a gift which we cannot claim. Only God knows the real state of our fellowship, of our sanctification. What may appear weak and trifling to us may be great and glorious to God. Just as the Christian should not be constantly feeling his spiritual pulse, so, too, the Christian community has not been given to us by God for us to be constantly taking its temperature. The more thankfully we daily receive what is given to us, the more surely and steadily will fellowship increase and grow from day to day as God pleases” (p. 33).“Because Christ has long since acted decisively for my brother, before I could begin to act, I must leave him his freedom to be Christ's; I must meet him only as the person that he already is in Christ's eyes” (p. 36).A discerning reader will glean from this book with the blessing of the Spirit: I recommend it with the previously stated caveats and observations.
Rating: 2Life Together stands as one of the best theologies of community in modern church history. Focusing on life and ministry in community, Bonhoeffer’s work served as a sort of handbook for the underground church in Nazi Germany. The joy of community and the centrality of Christ are especially emphasized here. Bonhoeffer offers a particularly acute analysis of spiritual life in community, especially in light of Nazi persecution. A
Rating: 5