Other works of Bonhoeffer include The Cost of Discipleship and a compilation of letters he wrote while imprisoned by the Third Reich.

He believed that God bestows human solidarity because people are in fact their "brother's keeper", paraphrasing Genesis 4:9.

[1][full citation needed] He opens with the quote from Psalms 133:1: "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity."

He detailed the necessity of the church functioning as a living and vibrant organism, what he called a "community of love."

Christians are established in unity by the saving work of Jesus Christ, and it matters not if they agree on the words to sing or what tempo to praise their Creator.

When the people of God come together to share their lives openly and freely, accepting each other with unconditional positive regard, there is a sort of social-spiritual "chemistry" that emerges, and those who come together experience a delightful cohesion and sense of belonging.

Bonhoeffer writes that when a person strays from Christianity, it is the problem of the entire group - and their responsibility - to get him on the right track again.

If the Church were a result of man's efforts, its failure would cause the founder to accuse the other members, God, and finally himself.

The fellowship of the human community is composed of devout souls and works along the lines of the magnetic persuasion of a leader.

"Life together under the Word will remain sound and healthy only where it does not form itself into a movement, an order, a society, a collegium pietatis, but rather where it understands itself as being a part of the one, holy, catholic, Christian Church where it shares actively and passively in the sufferings and struggles and promise of the whole church."