Redeeming the Routines: Bringing Theology to Life

Many Christians have difficulty finding practical connections between faith and daily life. Sermons, Sunday schools, and study groups rarely address the issues, situations, and responsibilities of ordinary life, and theology seems detached from everyday concerns. In Redeeming the Routines, Robert Banks locates the reasons for the gap between faith and daily life. He then identifies activities that should be examined from a Christian perspective and suggests specific ways in which individuals and churches can bring their faith to bear on such matters. Now back in print.

"This is a wonderful book that should be read by everyone who thinks that theology cannot address the issues with which so many of us are preoccupied in the 'ordinaryness' of our lives: as people who commute and exercise and worry about diet and have a hard time sleeping. Robert Banks shows us that to think theologically can be a very exciting activity of bringing the riches of divine revelation to bear on the complexities of our lives."
-Richard Mouw, Fuller Theological Seminary

"The recovery of theology of, for, and by the ordinary Christian will take more than one good book. But this volume makes a significant contribution. Robert Banks views biblical theology as essentially subversive. It insists on addressing the center of our lives rather than the circumference. . . . Too long we have settled for the husk of Christianity-the formalized apparatus for finding God and saying our prayers correctly. This book is about the heart of it-the God invasion of our seven-day week with transcendent meaning and joy. Read it."
-R. Paul Stevens, Regent College

"For too many years most laypeople have considered theology as impenetrable a study as nuclear physics. Unfortunately, the academic community has done little to disabuse this impression. Finally, Dr. Robert Banks has come along with a book that is greatly needed and long overdue. Redeeming the Routines truly does bring theology 'down to earth' and, thereby, becomes a valuable book for helping us all connect faith with the experiences of daily life."
-William E. Diehl, Riverbend Resource Center

"Theology is far too important to be left to the theologians! Robert Banks, though himself a theologian, seeks to recover a theology of the people of God and for the people of God, and encourages us in our high calling to do theology as well as talk about it. In my opinion, this is the best book on grass-roots theology that is currently available. . . . It should be required reading for all theological students (and their teachers)."
-W. Ward Gasque, Northwest Graduate School of Ministry
Robert Banks is the director and dean of Macquarie Christian Studies Institute in Sydney, Australia. A prolific writer and editor, his works include The Tyranny of Time, The Church Comes Home, and The Complete Book of Everyday Christianity.