[PhilThreeten] Book Review: Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth
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PhilThreeten
Mar 22, 2006, 11:10:08 AM3/22/06
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Since I’ve just finished the 25th Anniversary edition to this book three years after it was printed, I’m guessing that there have been an excess of reviews that have been written on it. I’m not sure that there is much to add…
Richard Foster has truly written a classic here. I approached it with some apprehension having heard that he is new-agish and unbiblical. I could detect neither in this material. Instead, I found a brother in Christ attempting to understand God with something more than just his mind using methods that are Biblical, orthodox, and practical for every believer. The sad chasm that seems to exist in some peoples anthropology between the mind and every other aspect of a person (actions, emotions, desires, etc.) is a false one. After reading Foster’s material, I find those who believe that the pursuit of God is only or even primarily intellectual to be the ones leaning towards unbiblical pursuit.
Foster recognizes thirteen disciplines that have been practiced both Biblically and throughout Christian history. That in our day the only or primary discipline is the discipline of Study is not a sign of strength in the Christian walk but an indication of the drought of understanding of how God has created people and the ‘above and beyond our imagination’ redemption of those people. Though one cannot be a truly balanced Christian without a renewal of the mind and the discipline of Study, to focus on any one discipline to the virtual exclusion of others has always led to extremism that future generations will look back on and warn about – even as we do today to those earlier extremes in Christianity.
There are only two things that I think would have made Foster’s book better. One would have been an inclusion of the idea of Sabbath (not as a legalistic day but as a lifestyle) or rest. Though he only briefly touches on it in Solitude, I think he could have done more on it or even seen it as a complete discipline in itself. It certainly is a discipline in deep need in our own day.
Additionally, I think that Foster would have done well to include in the book a means of developing a rhythm of disciplines. I don’t think that a person looking at the Biblical and historical evidence for Foster’s material can deny that he is on to something, but how does one go about including the disciplines into their life without becoming overwhelmed with all thirteen of them and just ending up giving up? To this end, Ruth Haley Barton’s book ‘Sacred Rhythms’ is excellent. The book itself in its discussion about disciplines does not even begin to compare to Foster’s, so, sadly, about 80% of the book is an inferior attempt to communicate the same message. But Barton’s discussion on how to implement the disciplines into one’s life without becoming overwhelmed by them is an excellent compendium to Foster’s material.
Overall, this is a highly recommended book and puts to words many of the pursuits that I have been yearning for in my own life for several years now. I’m glad that God brought this book across my path.
Categories: Readings
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Posted by PhilThreeten to PhilThreeten at 3/22/2006 11:07:00 AM
Richard Foster has truly written a classic here. I approached it with some apprehension having heard that he is new-agish and unbiblical. I could detect neither in this material. Instead, I found a brother in Christ attempting to understand God with something more than just his mind using methods that are Biblical, orthodox, and practical for every believer. The sad chasm that seems to exist in some peoples anthropology between the mind and every other aspect of a person (actions, emotions, desires, etc.) is a false one. After reading Foster’s material, I find those who believe that the pursuit of God is only or even primarily intellectual to be the ones leaning towards unbiblical pursuit.
Foster recognizes thirteen disciplines that have been practiced both Biblically and throughout Christian history. That in our day the only or primary discipline is the discipline of Study is not a sign of strength in the Christian walk but an indication of the drought of understanding of how God has created people and the ‘above and beyond our imagination’ redemption of those people. Though one cannot be a truly balanced Christian without a renewal of the mind and the discipline of Study, to focus on any one discipline to the virtual exclusion of others has always led to extremism that future generations will look back on and warn about – even as we do today to those earlier extremes in Christianity.
There are only two things that I think would have made Foster’s book better. One would have been an inclusion of the idea of Sabbath (not as a legalistic day but as a lifestyle) or rest. Though he only briefly touches on it in Solitude, I think he could have done more on it or even seen it as a complete discipline in itself. It certainly is a discipline in deep need in our own day.
Additionally, I think that Foster would have done well to include in the book a means of developing a rhythm of disciplines. I don’t think that a person looking at the Biblical and historical evidence for Foster’s material can deny that he is on to something, but how does one go about including the disciplines into their life without becoming overwhelmed with all thirteen of them and just ending up giving up? To this end, Ruth Haley Barton’s book ‘Sacred Rhythms’ is excellent. The book itself in its discussion about disciplines does not even begin to compare to Foster’s, so, sadly, about 80% of the book is an inferior attempt to communicate the same message. But Barton’s discussion on how to implement the disciplines into one’s life without becoming overwhelmed by them is an excellent compendium to Foster’s material.
Overall, this is a highly recommended book and puts to words many of the pursuits that I have been yearning for in my own life for several years now. I’m glad that God brought this book across my path.
Categories: Readings
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Posted by PhilThreeten to PhilThreeten at 3/22/2006 11:07:00 AM
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