Bonhoeffer Anticipates Endangered Gospel

"It is the great mistake of a false Protestant ethic to assume that loving Christ can be the same as loving one’s native country, or friendship or profession, that the better righteousness and civil justice are the same. Jesus does not talk that way. What is Christian depends on the ‘extraordinary.’ That is why Christians cannot conform to the world… What does the extraordinary consist of? It is the existence of those blessed in the Beatitudes, the life of the disciples. It is the shining light, the city on the hill. It is the way of self-denial, perfect love, perfect purity, perfect truthfulness, perfect nonviolence. Here is undivided love for one’s enemies, loving those who love no one and whom no one loves. . . . It is the love of Jesus Christ himself, who goes to the cross in suffering and obedience. It is the cross. What is unique in Christianity is the cross, which allows Christians to step beyond the world in order to receive victory over the world." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works in English 4: 144-5, with Latin phrases translated)