Practicing Our Faith: A Way of Life for a Searching People - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0787903361 ISBN 13: 9780787903367

Publisher: Jossey-Bass Inc Pub, 1997

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 this title

Review

The gap between theory and practice in religion is one of growing consternation for people. Aside from going to church on Sunday, how does a Christian manifest the power of this religion in his or her own life? Instead of just being a Christian, how can one bring the meaningfulness of Christianity into one's life? Dorothy C. Bass and 12 other Christian leaders offer concrete practices such as hospitality, simplicity, and community gathering that serve to enrich our lives and the lives of others while reinforcing faith in God. Although presented from a Christian point of view, the practices themselves are universally applicable.

From the Inside Flap

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

Edition details

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass Inc Pub
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0787903361
• ISBN 13: 9780787903367
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 232
• Editor: Bass Dorothy C.