Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1023498 in Books
• Published on: 1988-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 248 pages

About the Author
Richard J. Foster (Public and Private): Richard J. Foster, a Quaker, is the author of several bestselling books, including Freedom of Simplicity and Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home, which in 1993 was Christianity Today's Book of the Year and won the Gold Medallion Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers' Association. He is the founder of Renovare, an infra-church movement committed to the renewal of the church in all her multifaceted expressions. He lives with his wife, Carolynn, in Denver, Colorado.

Customer Reviews

This book will change your relationship with Christ forever.
Christianity is about relationship - God meeting our fundamental need to be in personal, intimate relationship with him. I should have read this book when I was a much younger Christian. I've been following Jesus for nearly a decade, and I've enjoyed my walk so far. However, as I have approached the decade milestone, I have felt a growing dissatisfaction with my walk. I had this nagging sense that at the ten-year point, I really should know him better. After all, Jesus is supposed to be my best friend. And, I wasn't sure why. This book is more than simply a devotional. It goes beyond the 'why' of the disciplines, but gives some practical advice on 'how'. How many of us understand how to "meditate", "fast" or "pray" without simply mouthing the words from time to time? How do you practice "submission" without feeling inferior to someone or practice "solitude" without feeling lonely? The disciplines are like a farmer, preparing the soil for seed. The farmer cannot force the seed to grow, but he can provide an environment that is good for its growth - tilling the soil, providing water, fertilizer, planting seeds, removing weeds. But, only God causes the growth. Similarly, the disciplines prepare you for growth that only God can (and does) provide. The contents of this book, applied and practiced, have been revitalizing my walk in ways I hadn't thought possible. I'm learning things about this personal relationship that were completely unexpected, and tremendously enriching. I encourage you to get this book if you claim the name of Jesus and be prepared to experience a deeper, personal, life-changing experience with your loving Lord. Expect to change - for to spend time in the presence of the eternal, living God is to be changed!

Foster tells it like it is
A friend of mine from the South Carolina Kairos Prison Ministry once said "You can no more teach something you don't know, than you can come back from some place you've never been." Foster clearly has been in the place of spiritual discipline. He walks the talk.

The disciplines he describes are not some mystical formula from giants with whom we cannot identify; rather he teaches us how to tap into practical methods for finding out what our spirit knows is best, and that our flesh is resistant to try.

Even if the reader has experienced disappointments with religion, he or she will finally find, in Foster's work, the place the soul calls home.

The disciplines are penicillin for our superficiality
Celebration of the Disciplines is a book on Christian spirituality, focusing on the "classic Disciplines" of the Christian faith. Foster examines the inner disciplines of meditation, prayer, fasting and study. Then he looks at the outward disciplines of simplicity, solitude, submission, and service. He gives many illustrations for practical application. Celebration of Discipline can serve as a textbook for a journey into the spiritual disciplines. Though I've been a longtime practitioner of these disciplines, I was instructed, encouraged and motivated by the book. In an age of style over substance, Celebration of Discipline is penicillin for our superficiality. At times I felt Foster left teaching principles and practice, to indulge in preferences. Foster's own personal convictions on simplicity must not be understood as absolutes but as opinions. I also disagreed with his encouragement on page 28 to "ponder a picture of Lord." It is my belief, and that of many other believers, that such a practice can lead to a violation of the second commandment. That aside, I highly recommend the book.