Die Nachfolge Christi

According to the Bible, "The Cost of Discipleship" is one of the most widely read books in Christianity. It accompanied Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Alfred Delp to their deaths, and Dag Hammarskjöld as well as Pope John XXIII never let it out of their hands until the end of their lives. In its linguistic simplicity—Bonhoeffer raves about the beauty of the text—lies the wisdom of a deep life with God, with Jesus: closeness, joy, but also the experience of distance and desolate emptiness. Sometimes one must pause at a single sentence and let it sink in. This way, one experiences the life wisdom that has accumulated within it. And then the reader is also granted the quiet security from which these texts have emerged.