For many of us, the name of Richard J. Foster alone will sell a book. It was so for me when I saw the book Longing for God: Seven Paths of Christian Devotion, IVP Books, 2009. When Foster writes, people listen, and rightly so.
In Longing For God, Foster and Beebe have teamed up to present to us a textbook of sorts that promises to “recover the Seven Paths of Christian Devotion.” They explain themselves in the opening sentence to the introduction: “This book is about the many ways individuals and societies have become alive to God.” In exploring history they feel we might learn for ourselves how to find our way back to God.
The introduction starts with some necessary explanations and definitions. As a history of the spiritual formation of the church and believers throughout history, we have to know what spiritual formation is. They explain.
“Christian spiritual formation is the God – ordained process that shapes our entire person s that we take on the character and being of Christ himself.” The spiritual practices that support this process of transformation include worship, study, prayer, reading and memorizing Scripture, reflecting on God’s activity in nature and history, and service to others.
Foster and Beebe use this book to describe the process of spiritual formation through the ages as utilized and walked out by what they see as seven primary paths:
- The spiritual life as the right ordering of our love for God
- The spiritual life as a journey
- The spiritual life as the recovery of knowledge of God lost in the Fall
- The spiritual life as intimacy with Jesus Christ
- The spiritual life as the right ordering of our experiences of God
- The spiritual life as action and contemplation
- The spiritual life as divine ascent
Another hope is that as you and I read the book, and ponder the writings of Christians through the ages, we would be challenged and encouraged to follow hard after God in our own path.
The value of this book is that we are not left to flounder through the readings from the ancient spiritual giants such as Luther, Thomas a Kempis, Francis of Assisi, Julian of Norwich or Teresa of Avila. Foster and Beebe guide us through each person’s life history and helps us understand the perspective through which they each saw spiritual formation. They summarize each person’s life message and then gives us a way to reflect and respond.
I especially enjoyed this section of each chapter. The authors allowed us to see their hearts as they personally sought to learn from each ancient leader’s life. Their wrestling invited our own minds and hearts to engage in the exercise with them. Each chapter ends with a prayer that personalizes all the ponderings.
I have read books that reproduce snippets of the writing from classic Christian works. I have to admit that I don’t particularly enjoy slogging through the esoteric and ancient language to even try to get to a helpful message. That problem is eliminated in this valuable work by Foster and Beebe. They come alongside us and open a window into the person’s world. They summarize the work and perspective of each person, then take us by the hand and try to make sense of it all with us.
A classic, by definition, is a book we know we should read, but never have. There are stacks of Christian writings by saints of old that fit that category. Now Richard Foster and Gayle Beebe take the burden of the “should read” list off our shoulders and make it a “have read” list instead. Thank you. This is a book well worth your time and effort. I recommend it.
Reviewed by Joan Tyvoll
