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Pat Hannon @phannon May 4, 2011 Leave a Comment

Review of The Sacred Journey by Charles Foster

Many moons ago, the good folks at Thomas Nelson sent me a copy of The Sacred Journey to review. This is the final installment in The Ancient Practices Series. I have read and reviewed most of the series already and was eager to receive this volume to engage the ancient practice of pilgrimage.

The Sacred JourneyThere are two kinds of books that are quite easy to review: books you love and books you hate. Both of these categories create an emotional response that leads to an easily written review. However, I find books that I neither love nor hate to be harder to review. The Sacred Journey falls into this category for me.

This text is Foster’s attempt to “articulate a theology of pilgrimage.” Christianity is about journeying with God, following Jesus on the way, and the practice of pilgrimage captures this essential component of the faith. For Foster, pilgrimage is not a metaphor, but setting out on an actual journey—packing the barest essentials, leaving behind normal commitments, heading out on an unplanned journey, wandering into the unknown, and discovering more of God in the process. The pilgrimage journeys recounted in this book remind me of a mix between an Australian Walkabout (recounted in the old Crocodile Dundee movies) and the journeys of Frodo and Sam in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. “It’s a dangerous business,” says Bilbo,”going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

Of course there are lessons to be learned on pilgrimage. Foster writes that “Pilgrimage, done properly, is one of the best-known antidotes to gnosticism.” Gnosticism mistakenly separates the spiritual from the physical: spiritual good; physical bad. Christianity, the religion of the good creation, incarnation, and bodily resurrection calls for a spiritual-physical wholeness. The spiritual is embodied in the physical. The extreme physicality of the pilgrimage journey offers a constant reminder of the importance of the physical that strips away the lure of gnosticism. This is good stuff that Foster offers.

Yet two concerns lingered for me throughout this book. The first is the extreme nature of the pilgrimage journeys that Foster recounts. Must one leave behind commitments to jobs and relationships in order to practice pilgrimage? Is there a way to enter the lessons of pilgrimage while remaining at home? Can we approach our daily routine through the eyes of one on a life-long pilgrimage with Christ? Unfortunately Foster does not adequately address the pilgrimage life as lived among daily commitments.

A second concern: Foster frequently explains pilgrimage as understood among other religious traditions. This in itself is not a concern; Christian practice can be enriched through examining practices of other traditions. My concern is that, at times, I lost the connection between an Islamic or Buddhist understanding of pilgrimage and a thoroughly Christian understanding of pilgrimage.

The invitation to embark on a journey is an essential component of the story of Israel in the Old Testament and the life of Jesus in the Gospels. Followers of Christ would be wise to considered what it means to journey with God, even in the daily routines of life.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: books, pilgrimage, spiritual formation, The Ancient Practices Series

Pat Hannon @phannon March 3, 2010 Leave a Comment

Book Review: Tithing by Douglas Leblanc

I recently read the most challenging and inspiring book I’ve read in a long time. Unbelievably, it’s a book on tithing! Douglas Leblanc’s Tithing: Test Me in This is the latest title in the Ancient Practices Series. In this book Leblanc challenges us to practice the discipline of tithing. He does this not by undertaking an exegesis of relevant bible passages or preaching a sermon, but by interviewing people whose lives have been decidedly marked by tithing and generosity. These interviews include members of a 1970s intentional community, an author who has given away millions of dollars in book royalties, and a pastor helping a New Orleans’ neighborhood rebuild after Katrina. An interview with a Jewish rabbi gives useful background to the Old Testament commandments on tithing and generosity.

Leblanc looks at tithing not as an act of legalism but as an act of grace that is the doorway to a life of generosity. Tithing is discussed as a Christian practice through which God invites us to participate in His purposes in the world. Tithing is a means of grace through which one learns to live in the fullness of the Kingdom of God that is present now.

When I received a review copy of Tithing from Thomas Nelson, I anticipated reading it a few pages at a time, but was so inspired that I read the entire book in one day. I pray that my life would be marked by the radical dependence on God and joyful partnering in His work in the world that is seen in this book.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: books, The Ancient Practices Series, tithing

Pat Hannon @phannon January 27, 2010 Leave a Comment

Book Review: The Sacred Meal, by Nora Gallagher

I didn’t grow up in a church tradition that valued Communion as a regular practice. Instead, communion was an event, saved for a few special times a year. Like the family’s fancy china dishes, Communion was ensured to be special by its infrequent use. In The Sacred Meal, Nora Gallagher calls us to a different way to see Communion—as a spiritual practice that transforms us, forming us into the people of God and sending us out into the world to serve.

Gracefully reflecting on the practice of Communion in her life, Gallagher walks the reader through a threefold path of practicing Communion: waiting, receiving, afterward. In waiting, we prepare ourselves to enter into the practice of Communion, examining how we have lived-or not lived-in the reality of the present kingdom of heaven. In receiving, we open ourselves up to the presence of God, not through our effort, but by simply accepting the gift of God.  In afterward, we allow the experience of Communion to seep into every aspect of our lives.

The Sacred Meal is a fine addition to Ancient Practices Series. It does not address every element of the history or theology of Communion. There is, of course, much more to be said. But Gallagher’s reflections have enlarged my practice of this most sacred of meals. Thanks, Thomas Nelson, for the review copy.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: books, Communion, The Ancient Practices Series

Pat Hannon @phannon November 16, 2009 Leave a Comment

Book Review: The Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister

Thomas Nelson recently sent me a copy of The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life by Sr. Joan Chittister. I was excited to receive the next volume in the very helpful Ancient Practices Series. In The Liturgical Year , Chittister opens the reader to the beauty of the liturgical year as a spiritual formation practice. She begins with several chapters that explain how the cycles of the liturgical year form both individuals and faith communities in the fullness of the life of Christ. Through the remainder of the book Chittister walks the reader through the seasons of the liturgical year, mining the depth of meaning and spiritual formation present in each season.

I didn’t grow up in a church that followed the rhythm of the liturgical calendar, but have slowly been learning the beauty of the liturgical life. Sr. Joan Chittister, though, has lived a lifetime being formed by the rhythms of the liturgical year. Reading The Liturgical Year is like having a conversation with a friend who is sharing her love for following the intentional rhythms of the Christian calendar. I am glad to have this resource on my journey into allowing the rhythms of the liturgical year to shape me in the life of the Spirit.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: books, Christian Year, The Ancient Practices Series

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