If there is no element of asceticism in our lives, if we give free rein to the desires of the flesh (taking care of course to keep within the limits of what seems permissible to the world), we shall find it hard to train for the service of Christ. When the flesh is satisfied it is hard to pray with cheerfulness or to devote oneself to a life of service which calls for much self-renunciation.

He observed "Here one can truly speak and hear about sin and grace and the love of God. Bloesch. His father Karl Bonhoeffer was a distinguiDietrich Bonhoefferd neurologist.

He was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo and executed by hanging in April 1945 while imprisoned at a Nazi concentration camp just 23 days before the German surrender. He was also involved in plans by members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office) to assassinate Adolf Hitler. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have become widely influential and many have labelled his book The Cost of Discipleship a modern classic.