Celebration of
Discipline
Richard J. Foster
In the twenty years since its publication, Celebration of Discipline
has helped over a million seekers discover a richer spiritual life infused
with joy, peace, and a deeper understanding of God. For this special
twentieth anniversary edition, Richard J. Foster has added an introduction
in which he shares the story of how this beloved and enduring spiritual
guidebook came to be.
Hailed by many as the best modern book on Christian
spirituality, Celebration of Discipline explores the "classic Disciplines,"
or central spiritual 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 with 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.
Reviewed by Bill
Strubbe, member of the Spiritual Growth and Leadership Development Committee