Bonhoeffer, who was hung by the SS for his outlandish idea that the Church and the Nazi state should be separate, has several thoughts that have stuck in my mind lately:
1. "cheap grace" - guarantees bargain-basement salvation which makes little, or no demands on people, thus poisoning "the life of following Christ"
2. "Who is Jesus in the world of 1933?" or more specifically, "Who is Jesus in 2007?"
3. In his dissertation The Communion of Saints, Bonhoeffer declares that the church is "Christ existing in community." The church for him is neither an ideal society with no need of reform, nor a gathering of the gifted elite. Rather, it is as much a communion of sinners capable of being true to the gospel, as it is a communion of saints for whom serving one another should be a joy.
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