Jump directly to the Content

Book Corner: Tour Guides for the Journey of Faith

A look at Richard Foster's Longing for God.

I have appreciated the ministry of Richard Foster since I read Celebration of Discipline for the first time in college. What sets him apart from others who write about spirituality is that he consistently resists reducing the Christian life to a formula or one-size-fits-all experience. He has drunk deeply from the wells of Christian heritage. But most importantly, he has sampled the waters from a diversity of Christian traditions. And he finds something of value in them all.

Longing for God: Seven Paths of Christian Devotion (IVP, 2009) illustrates Foster's commitment to learning from the broad testimony of Christian experience. With co-author Gayle D. Beebe, Foster explores seven major approaches to spiritual formation throughout history. Since the first century, the authors explain, Christians have understood the process and goal of the life of faith as:

  • The Right Ordering of Our Love for God
  • The Spiritual Life as Journey
  • The Recovery of Knowledge of God Lost in the Fall
  • Intimacy with Jesus Christ

March
Support Our Work

Subscribe to CT for less than $4.25/month

Homepage Subscription Panel

Read These Next

Related
Tom Nelson: Deconstructing Biblical Assumptions
Tom Nelson: Deconstructing Biblical Assumptions
God's introduction as a worker in Genesis 1-2 forces us to reassess and rethink biblical stereotypes and assumptions to develop a doctrine of vocation.
From the Magazine
I Hated ‘Church People.’ But I Knew I Needed Them.
I Hated ‘Church People.’ But I Knew I Needed Them.
As I attended my second funeral in three weeks, two Christians showed me a kindness I couldn’t explain.
Editor's Pick
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
Understanding God and our world needs more than bare reason and experience.
close