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Title: Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, 20th Anniversary Edition by Richard J. Foster ISBN: 0-06-062839-1 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 19 October, 1988 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.46 (67 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Let's recognize the danger here...
Comment: This is a Christian classic. Foster has written a comprehensive guide to spiritual disciplines. It is deep, yet accessible. Most of the reviews here agree with that.
I've read this book 5 times in 8 years. I've been in churches where multiple people were reading it at the same time. I've been in small groups where everyone read it together. I've seen mature Christians read it. I've seen new Christians read it. And I've concluded that THIS BOOK CAN BE DANGEROUS.
The reason I say that is that even in the most non-legalistic churches I've ever seen, I've seen immature Christians stumble in part because they are overwhelmed by everything in this book. And when I say "stumble", I'm talking about people going back into severely addictive lifestyles. And the pressure they felt from feeling like they have to do all these disciplines contributed to that.
Unfortunately, it's easy for any of us to filter even the most well-intentioned, well-written book through our false self, that part of us that is performance- and fear-oriented. Spiritual disciplines do not change us; they open our hearts to the change that the Spirit of God wants to bring.
Again, I think this is a phenomenal book. But lest we feed our heads instead of our hearts and lest we frustrate ourselves with a standard of righteousness that Foster never intended, I'd like to humbly, humbly suggest some things:
* I personally recommend that people start with Henri Nouwen's "Way of the Heart" for a primer on spiritual discipline. It is just much simpler. The big stuff can come later. (Other books by Merton, Nouwen, Keating, etc., will work just as well.)
* Get a spiritual director--I'm not talking about a pastoral counselor, though it may be a pastor; I'm talking about a spiritually mature guide who is only interested in your spiritual development, not your money or your time.
* Read this book with other people who can provide feedback to you on how they see you responding.
* Keep it simple: Pray, pray, pray; trust the Lord to guide your heart into other disciplines. Attempt other disciplines when your motivation is to honor God and mortify your flesh, not when it is to "get something", even if that "something" is spiritual maturity.
Rating: 5
Summary: Even More of a Classic After the Second Reading!!
Comment: I just finished reading Richard Foster's "Celebration of Discipline" for the second time. I read it many years ago in seminary, but wanted to refresh my memory with its principles. I am so glad I did!
Twenty years later, Foster still offers a superb work here that focuses on the devotional life of the believer. This book is divided into three sections: the inward Disciplines, the outward Disciplines, and the corporate Disciplines. Foster acknowledges that God is the author of all spiritual growth, but indicates that the Disciplines help us position ourselves so that the growth will more easily occur.
He says, "God has given us the Disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving his grace. The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us" (page 7).
This book is a true classic, and should be a part of every Christian's library. I cannot recommend it highly enough. If you want to grow deeper and stronger in Christ, then you definitely want to buy it!
Rating: 3
Summary: Helpful, but some dangerous theology ...
Comment: There is certainly some wisdom in this book. I first read Celebration of Discipline a number of years ago and was challenged in every facet of my spiritual walk. The spiritual disciplines are too often ignored in the church today, and Foster is right in reemphasizing them.
Still, I have some serious reservations about this book. There are several places in which he seems to argue for open theism (or something that very much resembles open theism). In short, this is the proposition that God doesn't know the future, and that He can change his mind in response to the prayers and petitions of human beings. This might seem very pious, but it is clearly unscriptural. See, for example, Numbers 23:19: "God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?"; Malachi 3:6 "For I, the Lord, do not change"; or Psalm 139:16 where David says to God "All the days ordained for me
were written in your book before one of them came to be.' Open theism is inconsistent with the Scripture, and traditional Christian theology.
If you choose to read and use Foster's book, do it with discernment. There is some helpful advice, but also some false teaching.
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Title: Richard J. Foster's Study Guide for "Celebration of Discipline" by Richard J. Foster ISBN: 0060628332 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 16 February, 1983 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Celebrating the Disciplines : A Journal Workbook to Accompany ``Celebration of Discipline'' by Richard J. Foster ISBN: 0060698675 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 25 December, 1992 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home by Richard J. Foster ISBN: 0060628464 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 11 September, 1992 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: The Spirit of the Disciplines - Reissue : Understanding How God Changes Lives by Dallas Willard ISBN: 0060694424 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 01 February, 1991 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Freedom of Simplicity by Richard J. Foster ISBN: 0061043850 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 01 January, 1998 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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