...Luther had to leave the cloister and go back to the world, not because the world in itself was good and holy, but because even the cloister was only a part of the world.
Luther's return from the cloister to the world was the worst blow the world had suffered since the days of early Christianity. The renunciation he made when he became a monk was child's play compared with that which he had to make when he returned to the world. Now came the frontal assault. The only way to follow Jesus was by living in the world. Hitherto the Christian life had been the achievement of a few choice spirits under the exceptionally favourable conditions of monasticism; now it is a duty laid on every Christian living in the world. the commandment of Jesus must be accorded perfect obedience in one's daily vocation of life. The conflict between the life of the Christian and the life of the world was thus thrown into the sharpest possible relief. It was a hand-to-hand conflict between the Christian and the world.
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, 48.
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We just started reading The Cost of Discipleship in my small group. I've thought about vocation and calling, and understand that the view of vocation that came out of the Reformation was radically different from the monastic view. We proclaim 'all of life redeemed' - all callings are spiritual callings, whether I serve as an actuary or a cleaning lady or a missionary. But Bonhoeffer's point is new to me - namely that the Reformed view is a more difficult standard. While we're freed from the burdens of a monastic order, we must live as disciples in the world - easier said than done. Hence, 'hand-to-hand conflict'.
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