Books by Richard J. Foster

Celebration of Discipline: The path to Spiritual Growth

by Richard J. Foster

Hailed by many as the best modern book on Christian spirituality, Celebration of Discipline has helped more than one million seekers discover a richer spiritual life infused with joy, peace, and a deeper understanding of God. Celebration of Discipline explores the 'classic disciplines,' or central spiritual practices, of the Christian faith. Along the way, Foster shows that it is only by and through these practices that the true path to spiritual growth can be found. Dividing the disciplines into three movements of the Spirit, Foster shows how each of these areas contribute to a more balanced spiritual life. The inward disciplines of meditation, prayer, fasting, and study offer avenues of personal examination and change. The outward disciplines of simplicity, solitude, submission, and service help prepare us to make the world a better place. The corporate disciplines of confession, worship, guidance, and celebration bring us nearer to one another and to God. Foster provides a wealth of examples demonstrating how these disciplines can become part of our daily activities--and how they can help us shed our superficial habits and 'bring the abundance of God into our lives.' He offers crucial new insights on simplicity, demonstrating how the biblical view of simplicity, properly understood and applied, brings joy and balance to our inward and outward lives and 'sets us free to enjoy the provision of God as a gift that can be shared with others.' The discussion of celebration, often the most neglected of the disciplines, shows its critical importance, for it stands at the heart of the way to Christ. Celebration of discipline will help motivate Christians everywhere to embark on a journey of prayer and spiritual growth.

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Called to Community: The Life Jesus Wants for His People (Second Edition)

by C. S. Lewis, Eberhard Arnold, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Joan Chittister, Dorothy Day, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Richard J. Foster, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, David Janzen, Søren Kierkegaard, Chiara Lubich, Thomas Merton, Henri J. M. Nouwen, John M. Perkins, Eugene H. Peterson, Christine D. Pohl, Howard A. Snyder, Mother Teresa, Saint Benedict, Jeremiah Barker, Amy Carmichael, Hans Denck, Andreas Ehrenpreis, Thomas R Kelly, Penelope Lawson, Juan Mateos, Kathleen Norris, Thomas E Powers, Peter Riedemann, Christopher C Smith, Ulrich Stadler, Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf

Fifty-two readings on living in intentional Christian community to spark group discussion.
Gold Medal Winner, 2017 Illumination Book Awards, Christian Living
Silver Medal Winner, 2017 Benjamin Franklin Award in Religion, Independent Book Publishers Association
Why, in an age of connectivity, are our lives more isolated and fragmented than ever? And what can be done about it? The answer lies in the hands of God’s people. Increasingly, today’s Christians want to be the church, to follow Christ together in daily life. From every corner of society, they are daring to step away from the status quo and respond to Christ’s call to share their lives more fully with one another and with others. As they take the plunge, they are discovering the rich, meaningful life that Jesus has in mind for all people, and pointing the church back to its original calling: to be a gathered, united community that demonstrates the transforming love of God.
Of course, such a life together with others isn’t easy. The selections in this volume are, by and large, written by practitioners—people who have pioneered life in intentional community and have discovered in the nitty-gritty of daily life what it takes to establish, nurture, and sustain a Christian community over the long haul.
Whether you have just begun thinking about communal living, are already embarking on sharing life with others, or have been part of a community for many years, the pieces in this collection will encourage, challenge, and strengthen you. The book’s fifty-two chapters can be read one a week to ignite meaningful group discussion.
Contributors include: John F. Alexander, Eberhard Arnold, J. Heinrich Arnold, Johann Christoph Arnold, Alden Bass, Benedict of Nursia, Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt, Leonardo Boff, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Joan Chittister, Stephen B. Clark, Andy Crouch, Dorothy Day, Anthony de Mello, Elizabeth Dede, Catherine de Hueck Doherty, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Jenny Duckworth, Friedrich Foerster, Richard J. Foster, Jodi Garbison, Arthur G. Gish, Helmut Gollwitzer, Adele J Gonzalez, Stanley Hauerwas, Joseph H. Hellerman, Roy Hession, David Janzen, Rufus Jones, Emmanuel Katongole, Arthur Katz, Søren Kierkegaard, C. Norman Kraus, C.S. Lewis, Gerhard Lohfink, Ed Loring, Chiara Lubich, George MacDonald, Thomas Merton, Hal Miller, José P. Miranda, Jürgen Moltmann, Charles E. Moore, Henri J. M. Nouwen, Elizabeth O’Connor, John M. Perkins, Eugene H.Peterson, Christine D. Pohl, Chris Rice, Basilea Schlink, Howard A. Snyder, Mother Teresa, Thomas à Kempis, Elton Trueblood, and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove.

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Freedom of Simplicity: Finding Harmony in a Complex World

by Richard J. Foster

A revised and updated edition of the manifesto that shows how simplicity is not merely having less stress and more leisure but an essential spiritual discipline for the health of our soul.

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Devotional Classics: Revised Edition: Selected Readings for Individuals and Groups

by Richard J. Foster

Devotional Classics: Revised Edition is an updated and expanded edition of Renovaré's companion to the devotional life. Edited by Richard J. Foster and James Bryan Smith, this version incorporates all six traditions, or "streams," that comprise a healthy and holistic life of Christian faith. The fifty-two selections in Devotional Classics have been organized to introduce the reader to the great Christian devotional writers over the course of one year, through an introduction and meditation by Foster, a related biblical passage, discussion questions, and individual and group exercises. Devotional Classics is indispensable for those looking for a deeper and more balanced spiritual life.

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Life with God: Reading the Bible for Spiritual Transformation

by Richard J. Foster, Kathryn A. Helmers

Richard J. Foster finally does his book on the Bible! Foster's Celebration of Discipline has sold over a million copies, shows the intimate connection between Scripture and spirituality, revealing the secrets to living the 'with-God life.'

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Life with God: Reading the Bible for Spiritual Transformation

by Richard J. Foster, Kathryn A. Helmers

“If you want to discover new ways of entering the Bible, and letting it enter you, you will find no better guide than Richard Foster.”
— Lauren F. Winner, Duke Divinity School, author of Girl Meets God
“Foster’s work is not for those readers who are seeking quick answers or a behavioral checklist of what the Bible says they should do. Rather, it is a deep reflective guide to spiritual rumination and growth.”
— Publishers Weekly
Richard Foster, the beloved, bestselling author of Celebration of Discipline, Streams of Living Water, and Prayer, shows the intimate connection between Scripture and spirituality, revealing the secrets to living the “with-God life.”

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Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home

by Richard J. Foster

Best-selling author Richard J. Foster offers a warm, compelling, and sensitive primer on prayer, helping us to understand, experience, and practice it in its many forms-from the simple prayer of beginning again to unceasing prayer. He clarifies the prayer process, answers common misconceptions, and shows the way into prayers of contemplation, healing, blessing, forgiveness, and rest.
Coming to prayer is like coming home, Foster says. "Nothing feels more right, more like what we are created to be and to do. Yet at the same time we are confronted with great mysteries. Who hasn't struggled with the puzzle of unanswered prayer? Who hasn't wondered how a finite person can commune with the infinite Creator of the universe? Who hasn't questioned whether prayer isn't merely psychological manipulation after all? We do our best, of course, to answer these knotty questions but when all is said and done, there is a sense in which these mysteries remain unanswered and unanswerable . . . At such times we must learn to become comfortable with the mystery."
Foster shows how prayer can move us inward into personal transformation, upward toward intimacy with God, and outward to minister to others. He leads us beyond questions to a deeper understanding and practice of prayer, bringing us closer to God, to ourselves, and to our community.

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The NRSV Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible with the Deuterocanonical Books (With Deuterocanolical)

by Richard J. Foster, Eugene H. Peterson, Dallas Willard, Renovare, Walter Brueggemann, Bruce Demarest, Evan Howard, James Earl Massey, Catherine Taylor

The foremost names in Christian spirituality and biblical scholarship come together to provide a unique study Bible that rediscovers Scripture as living and active text of spiritual formation.

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Celebration of Discipline, Special Anniversary Edition: The Path to Spiritual Growth

by Richard J. Foster

A newly repackaged and updated 40th anniversary edition of the timeless guide that has helped numerous seekers discover a richer spiritual life infused with joy, peace, and a deeper understanding of God, updated with a new introduction by the author and a new section: "Entering the Great Conversation about the Growth of the Soul."
Hailed by many as the best modern book on Christian spirituality, Celebration of Discipline explores the "classic Disciplines," or central spiritual practices, of the Christian faith. Along the way, Foster shows that it is only by and through these practices that the true path to spiritual growth can be found.
Dividing the Disciplines into three movements of the Spirit, Foster shows how each of these areas contribute to a balanced spiritual life. The inward Disciplines of meditation, prayer, fasting, and study offer avenues of personal examination and change. The outward Disciplines of simplicity, solitude, submission, and service help prepare us to make the world a better place. The corporate Disciplines of confession, worship, guidance, and celebration bring us nearer to one another and to God.
Foster provides a wealth of examples demonstrating how these Disciplines can become part of our daily activities—and how they can help us shed our superficial habits and "bring the abundance of God into our lives." He offers crucial new insights on simplicity, demonstrating how the biblical view of simplicity, properly understood and applied, brings joy and balance to our inward and outward lives and "sets us free to enjoy the provision of God as a gift that can be shared with others." The discussion of celebration, often the most neglected of the Disciplines, shows its critical importance, for it stands at the heart of the way to Christ. Celebration of Discipline will help Christians everywhere to embark on a journey of prayer and spiritual growth.

Copies

No copies available.

Called to Community: The Life Jesus Wants for His People

by C. S. Lewis, Eberhard Arnold, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Joan Chittister, Dorothy Day, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Richard J. Foster, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, David Janzen, Søren Kierkegaard, Chiara Lubich, Thomas Merton, Henri J. M. Nouwen, John M. Perkins, Eugene H. Peterson, Christine D. Pohl, Howard A. Snyder, Mother Teresa, Saint Benedict, Jean Vanier

Fifty-two readings on living in intentional Christian community to spark group discussion.
Gold Medal Winner, 2017 Illumination Book Awards, Christian Living
Silver Medal Winner, 2017 Benjamin Franklin Award in Religion, Independent Book Publishers Association
Why, in an age of connectivity, are our lives more isolated and fragmented than ever? And what can be done about it? The answer lies in the hands of God’s people. Increasingly, today’s Christians want to be the church, to follow Christ together in daily life. From every corner of society, they are daring to step away from the status quo and respond to Christ’s call to share their lives more fully with one another and with others. As they take the plunge, they are discovering the rich, meaningful life that Jesus has in mind for all people, and pointing the church back to its original calling: to be a gathered, united community that demonstrates the transforming love of God.
Of course, such a life together with others isn’t easy. The selections in this volume are, by and large, written by practitioners—people who have pioneered life in intentional community and have discovered in the nitty-gritty of daily life what it takes to establish, nurture, and sustain a Christian community over the long haul.
Whether you have just begun thinking about communal living, are already embarking on sharing life with others, or have been part of a community for many years, the pieces in this collection will encourage, challenge, and strengthen you. The book’s fifty-two chapters can be read one a week to ignite meaningful group discussion.
Contributors include: John F. Alexander, Eberhard Arnold, J. Heinrich Arnold, Johann Christoph Arnold, Alden Bass, Benedict of Nursia, Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt, Leonardo Boff, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Joan Chittister, Stephen B. Clark, Andy Crouch, Dorothy Day, Anthony de Mello, Elizabeth Dede, Catherine de Hueck Doherty, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Jenny Duckworth, Friedrich Foerster, Richard J. Foster, Jodi Garbison, Arthur G. Gish, Helmut Gollwitzer, Adele J Gonzalez, Stanley Hauerwas, Joseph H. Hellerman, Roy Hession, David Janzen, Rufus Jones, Emmanuel Katongole, Arthur Katz, Søren Kierkegaard, C. Norman Kraus, C.S. Lewis, Gerhard Lohfink, Ed Loring, Chiara Lubich, George MacDonald, Thomas Merton, Hal Miller, José P. Miranda, Jürgen Moltmann, Charles E. Moore, Henri J. M. Nouwen, Elizabeth O’Connor, John M. Perkins, Eugene H.Peterson, Christine D. Pohl, Chris Rice, Basilea Schlink, Howard A. Snyder, Mother Teresa, Thomas à Kempis, Elton Trueblood, and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove.

Copies

No copies available.

Longing for God: Seven Paths of Christian Devotion

by Richard J. Foster, Gayle D. Beebe

2010 Christianity Today Book Award winner! 2010 Golden Canon Leadership Book Award winner! Think of the moment you last experienced God. Do you know him that closely in this moment? Truly experiencing the love of God gives us a taste of his goodness and his love for us, but often those moments are fleeting. We get distracted by life. Our awareness and understanding fade while our longing to experience him that way again increases. In these pages you can begin to fill that longing by developing your capacity to receive and respond to God's love. Spiritual formation is the process through which one's inner self is opened to the work of the Holy Spirit, who forms us into the image of the Son. Here Richard Foster and Gayle Beebe, both experienced leaders in spiritual formation, introduce you to people from the past who have known God deeply. Each person helps you to grasp one of the seven primary paths to intimacy with God that have been developed throughout Christian history. Chapters are divided into sections, each segment surrounding a key figure and concluding with a reflection and prayer. This rich resource can guide you into the same deep intimacy with God, opening you to the Spirit's work of transformation.

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No copies available.