Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Grace v Pacifism

The connections between Bonhoeffer's Costly Grace and Hauerwas' September 11, 2001: A Pacifist Response are vague but they do exist. Bonhoeffer discusses the difference between cheap and costly grace. He says that cheap grace is "the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner." Costly grace is something to be treasured because of the price that was paid for it to be possible. In a biblical sense, "cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate" and costly grace "cost God the life of his son." Hauerwas talks about how he disapproves of the aftermath of the attacks on 9/11. He believes that Christians should not kill others but rather live a life of nonviolence which may lead to persecution and death. He also says that "more people [might] die because the just warrior refuses to do an evil that good may come." The connections between these two ideals are that they are both trying to tell the reader that the price has already been paid for us, so why are we fighting against what is already ours? We, as Christians, already have a place in heaven so death should not be feared.

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