Costly Grace, Not Cheap

In 1937, during the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany, Dietrich Bonhoeffer published The Cost of Discipleship, an exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, in which Bonhoeffer spells out what he believes it means to follow Christ.

Right off the bat in chapter one comes one of the most quoted ideas from his book: the distinction between cheap and costly grace. According to Bonhoeffer,

"cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."

In contrast to cheap grace,

"costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has ... costly because it costs a man his life, and grace because it gives a man the only true life." [summarizing, see here for full quote]

One of our exclusive designs ... costly grace. ... highlights Bonhoeffer's premise in a design inspired by manual typewriter that would have been available in late 1930s used to communicate key information to his students or used to typeset his book draft.

This is the second Bonhoeffer-inspired design since Finkenwalde was released. Finkenwalde was an illegal seminary and church community in Szczecin, a remote village in Poland, that was led by Deitrich Bonhoeffer from 1935 to 1937.

See all Bonhoeffer-inspired products here.