Advance Book Review
For more than 15 years, the writing of Richard Foster has had a marked impact on my spiritual life. His now classic “Celebration of Discipline” challenged me deeply, both in pursuing deeper practices of disipline in my life, as well as by making push deeper into issue and ideas I was not sure I could I agree with him on. More recently, his book “Streams of Living Water: Celebrating the Great Traditions of Christian Faith” has been significant in forming both my personal spirituality and the shape & nature of our ministry & community.
I was excited & honoured, then, when I had the opportunity to read his most recent title, coauthored with Gayle Beebe, “Longing for God: Seven Paths of Christian Devotion”. In this book, the authors take us on a journey of spiritual formation where our inner self is opened to the work of the Holy Spirit. Drawing widely from church history, the authors use the examples of many great Christians to illustrate seven primary paths to intimacy with God. Each chapter is divided into three sections, each highlight a different figure. They are as follows:
- Path One: The Right Ordering of Love for God
- Path Two: The Spiritual Life as Journey
- Path Three: The Recovery o Knowledge of God Lost in the Fall
- Path Four: Intimacy with Jesus Christ
- Path Five: The Right Ordering of Our Experiences of God
- Path Six: Action and Contemplation
- Path Seven: Divine Ascent
As usual, Foster provides helpful resources in the Appendixes, including “Pre-Christian Influences on Our Life with God”, “Christian Women and Spirituality” and “The Contribution of the Eastern Orthodox Church”.
What has always drawn me to the writing of Richard Foster was the wide embrace he gives when considering church history. By drawing from many examples in many traditions, he reminds of us of God’s Spirit at work beyond the confines of our context and convictions. And as always, it provides an excellent enrichment in church history in general.
While I can enthusiastically endorse this book, there are a few criticisms that are worth noting. I will cite two here. First, the clear lack of women in his examples is frustrating. Arguably, because of patriarchy, there are fewer strong examples available in the historical record. However, in only a few minutes I thought of several possibilities (many that I learned about in Foster’s own books). This is significant loss to the content and quality of the book itself.
My second criticism stems out of my recent research into the life of St. Francis of Assisi (one of the examples in Path Four). Some of the examples cited by the authors to illustrate their points drew from hagiographic records of the lives of some of the saints, giving little to no qualification for the historic accuracy of those records. Hagiographies, in their exaggerated and even embellished retelling of the lives of saint, can rob us of the identification to the humanity of those women and men. I wish the authors had given more time to look past those aspects to the heart of the examples given.
However, despite these minor critiques, I found (and am finding) the book a refreshing, challenging and practical guide to deepening my pursuit of Christlikeness. Another example of IVP’s excellent publications coming out this year.
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[...] What immediately impresses me about the book is the structure: for each path four classic spiritual writers are chosen to illumine the way. The reader is not only led through the various paths, but is exposed to some of the very best of the ancient writers at the same time. It’s a lovely way to structure a journey. A Living Alternative offers a short review of the title HERE. [...]