Synopses & Reviews
Many Christians are looking for ways to deepen their relationship with God by practicing their faith in everyday life. Some go on retreats but are often disappointed to find that the integrated life they experienced in a place apart is difficult to recreate in their day-to-day world. Many thoughtful, educated Christians search for spiritual guidance in Eastern religious traditions, unaware of the great riches within their own heritage. To all these seekers, Practicing Our Faith offers help that is rooted in Christian faith and tradition. Refusing to leave our beliefs in the realm of theory, this book explores twelve central Christian practices — shared activities that address fundamental human needs and that, woven together, form a way of life. The contributors explore in depth each practice — such as keeping Sabbath, honoring the body, and forgiving one another — by placing it in its historical and biblical context, reexamining its relevance to our times, and showing how it gives depth and meaning to daily life. Shaped by the Christian community over the centuries yet richly grounded in the experiences of living communities today, these practices show us how Christian spiritual disciplines can become an integral part of how we live each day. The book's thirteen contributors, who come from diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds, draw on their rich shared experience as believers, theologians, ethicists, and educators. Informed by the wisdom of the Christian tradition yet alert to the needs of our time, they illustrate how we can conduct our daily lives in concert with all creation and in communion with God. The Practices:
- Honoring the body
- Hospitality
- Household economics
- Saying yes and saying no
- Keeping Sabbath
- Testimony
- Discernment
- Shaping communities
- Forgiveness
- Healing
- Dying well
- Singing our lives
Review
"As wise as grandparents, a good guide to living within our families and communities with integrity and generosity." (Kathleen Norris, author of Dakota and The Cloister Walk)
"For years the religious book market has been flooded with volumes about 'spirituality,' but people are still uncertain about what it would mean to 'live like a Christian.' This is a unique response to that uncertainty, a down-to-earth description of twelve practical ways of being Christian. It would be a much different world if people were to follow the guidance of this book." (Bernard Cooke, Loyola Professor of Theology Emeritus, Holy Cross College)
"Millions of Americans claim to be interested in deepening their spirituality, but many are swimming contentedly in shallow waters. The essays in this highly readable volume challenge us to practice our faith with greater dedication and imagination. Drawing inspiration from biblical tradition and from contemporary literature as well as their own experience, the authors show how such practices as hospitality, keeping Sabbath, forgiving, and singing, among others, can forge more deliberate and rewarding connections with the sacred." (Robert Wuthnow, author of Acts of Compassion)
"Practicing Our Faith is a book written by a remarkable community of people -- remarkable not only because it includes some of the most insightful Christian voices of our time, but because its members prayed and talked and worked together to create this volume, modeling the way the church is meant to do its work. As their title suggests, this book emphasizes not just the theory but the practice of the Christian life, and it does so in fresh and lively ways: it is a book that can help us understand what it might mean to become 'the Word mader flesh' in the course of everyday life. Equally important, the practices explored here go far beyond the individual -- and sometimes isolating -- techniques often advocated by spiritual textx into ways of reaching out to others, of strengthening our communities and institutions, of helping to heal the world. Practicing Our Faith is a book that should be widely read, and more: it should be put into action." (Parker Palmer, author of The Active Life and To Know As We Are Known)
"Here are wonderfully suggestive and edifying essays that will help 'people of faith' put their beliefs and convictions to that ultimate test of conduct -- how we call upon out ideals in the everyday lived life that is our great opportunity, but also our demanding test, and at times, trial." (Robert Coles, author of The Spiritual Life of Children)
" a stimulating contribution to the work of making explicit the connection between what Christians do and what they believe " (Theology, 1 November 2002)
Synopsis
A sourcebook for Christians who search out meaningful ways to ?keep the faith? in their everyday lives.In recent years a wave of thoughtful Christians have looked to Eastern traditions and New Age ideas to find spiritual nourishment, unaware of the riches within their own faith. For these seekers, a weekly visit to their local church is simply not enough. They search for ways to bring their faith into daily life.Dorothy Bass and the other contributors to this multi-denominational collection show these Christians how they can shape a faithful way of life during our challenging times at work, at home, and in our communities. Bass and her co-writers explore the stuff of everyday life, placing ordinary activities in a biblical and historical context and discovering in them opportunities to realize God's active presence in life. Readers from many denominations, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, will find inspiring essays on hospitality, keeping Sabbath, community governance, dying well, and forgiveness.
Synopsis
As wise as grandparents, a good guide to living within our families and communities with integrity and generosity.
-- Kathleen Norris, author of Dakota and The Cloister Walk
Many people are looking for ways to deepen their relationship with God by practicing their faith in everyday life. Some go on retreats but are often disappointed. Many thoughtful, educated people search for spiritual guidance in Eastern religious traditions, unaware of the great riches within their own heritage. Dorothy Bass and the other contributors to this multi-denominational collection show how they can shape a faithful way of life during challenging times at work, at home, and in the community. This book explores the stuff of everyday life, placing ordinary activities in a biblical and historical context, and discovering in them opportunities to realize God's active presence in life.
Practices include:
* Honoring the body
* Hospitality
* Household economics
* Saying yes and saying no
* Keeping Sabbath
* Testimony
* Discernment
* Shaping Communities
* Forgiveness
* Healing
About the Author
DOROTHY C. BASS is a noted church historian and director of the Valparaiso Project on the Education and Formation of People in Faith.
Table of Contents
1. Times of Yearning, Practices of Faith.
2. Honoring the Body.
3. Hospitality.
4. Household Economics.
5. Saying Yes and Saying No.
6. Keeping Sabbath.
7. Testimony.
8. Discernment.
9. Shaping Communities.
10. Forgiveness.
11. Healing.
12. Dying Well.
13. Singing our lives.
14. Growing in the Practices of Faith.