The Great Divide (part one of two)

Disclaimer: This is possibly the longest, most involved blog yet, and deals, yes, with theology. So read at your own risk; a mid-read nap might be required, but press on and mighty forces will come to your aid!

During my tenure at the University of Houston I studied under one Scott Elliot, whose first novel, Coiled in the Heart, had recently been published. It was a creative writing course, and when impressed by a students prose he would invariably state "It rings true." Though obvious I imagine, Scott failed to once attribute this adage to my work, which as I used to say, was a celebration of mediocrity laced with the glorification of all things Nintendo.

My final submission, which the final course grade was based upon, was a Southern-Gothic exploration of an alleged extramarital affair shared between Luigi and Princess Toadstool, which culminated in their elopement and subsequent honeymoon in Star World. My course grade, a C-, coincided with my themes of mediocrity. It rang true.

One year later, still in my love affair with mediocrity and all things 8-bit, I find myself immersed in the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was one of the great Christian voices and martyrs of our time, or as the thumbnail biography states:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in Breslau in 1906. The son of a famous German psychiatrist, he studied in Berlin and New York City. he left the safety of America to return to Germany and continue his public repudiation of the Nazis, which led to his arrest in 1943. linked to the group of conspirators whose attempted assassination of Hitler failed, he was hanged in April 1945.

Let's get to the point here. Bonhoeffer's most popular work, The Cost of Discipleship is masterful, not only in regards to its invigorating themes of grace and sacrifice, but also in its intrinsically truthful nature. Bonhoeffer is able to cut through the misconceptions, the cheapness, the cloak of falsities regarding Christianity, and articulate things that we've known all along. Simply put, he gives a voice to what we've been trying to say. The voice, it seems, rings true.

The most beautiful truths in life stem not from ideas placed within us, but rather are ones of the organic sort; the inherent, undeniable feelings hardwired into us, waiting not to be learned but rather remembered. Bonhoeffer does just this; rather than place truth in our hearts, like dropping a stone into a murky pond, he simply skims the top of the water, revealing what we've known all along.

The Cost of Discipleship builds upon a the fundamental difference between Cheap Grace and Costly Grace. For Bonhoeffer, the former is formidable threat to the church, discipleship, to the Christian. It is taken for granted, misused, abused, its infectious nature a hindrance to the individual and church in an ecumenical senses alike. Costly Grace, on the other hand, is of utmost importance; it is the gift, the redemption that comes at a price, it makes clear the actual cost of discipleship. The dichotomy and mutual exclusionary nature of the two is made clear from the beginning:

CHEAP GRACE: “Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church… Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”

COSTLY GRACE: “Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field. Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.”

The contrast between the two notions is perfectly clear. Bonhoeffer plainly articulates two radically different versions of grace, bringing the diametrical opposition to the forefront. Somewhere in the midst of life, history, postmodernism, or whatever you wish to call it, the great divide shrinks, and black and white principles bleed together and the separation is lost. Cheap grace flows into costly grace, diluting it, and meaning is lost. A second look at the above definition(s) Bonhoeffer eloquently put forth should make the consequences explicit.

“As Christianity spread, and the Church became more secularized, this realization of the costliness of grace gradually faded. The world was Christianized, and grace became its common property. It was to be had at low cost.”

This is getting a bit long, so in an unprecedented move for the Daily Rice, I’ll make this a two part post. I am going somewhere with this-I promise. Tomorrow I’ll show how Martin Luther’s (Bonhoeffer was Lutheran… minor detail) statement of “Sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ more boldly still” is not a declaration inviting us to sin freely so long as we rejoice in Christ more boldly.