Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth
February 6th, 2010
Celebration, discipline, growth, path, spiritual Posted in Self Help | 5 Comments 
Product Description
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. Hailed by many as the best modern work 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 contributes 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.” 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.
Amazon.com Review
When Richard Foster began writing Celebration of Discipline more than 20 years ago, an older writer gave him a bit of advice: “Be sure that every chapter forces the reader into the next chapter.” Foster took the advice to heart; as a result, his book presents one of the most compelling and readable visions of Christian spirituality published in the past few decades. After beginning with a simple observation–”Superficiality is the curse of our age…. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people”–Foster’s book moves to explain the disciplines people must cultivate in order to achieve spiritual depth. In succinct, urgent, and sometimes humorous chapters, Foster defines a broad range of classic spiritual disciplines in terms that are lucid without being too limiting and offers advice that’s practical without being overly prescriptive. For instance, after describing meditation as a combination of “intense intimacy and awful reverence,” he settles into such down-to-earth topics as how to choose a place and a posture in which to meditate.
Perhaps most interesting and useful is Foster’s chapter on the controversial Christian discipline of submission. According to Foster, submission does not demand self-hatred or loss of identity. Instead, it simply means growing secure in the conviction that “our happiness is not dependent on getting what we want” but on the fulfillment that naturally flows from love of one’s neighbors. Such wise and encouraging suggestions have helped many readers to discard the idea that discipline is an onerous duty and to move toward a liberating and simpler idea of discipline–whose defining character, as Foster never forgets, is joy. –Michael Joseph Gross
Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth
February 6th, 2010 at 1:26 am
If the book follows the exerpts then the author is just restating things I’ve heard many times before. A new Christian may find it insightful but I though it boring. A new story, a different person but these books all appear the same to me.
Rating: 1 / 5
February 6th, 2010 at 1:32 am
Let me quote from the book (emphasis mine):
“We can pray for sexual deviations with genuine assurance
that a real and lasting change can occur. Sex is like a river
- it is a good and wonderful blessing when kept within its
proper channel. A river that overflows its banks is a
dangerous thing, and so are perverted sexual drives.
What are the God-created banks for sex? One man and one woman
in marriage for life. When praying for persons with sexual
problems, it is a joy to picture a river that has overflowed
its banks and invite the Lord to bring it back into its
NATURAL channel.”
How disappointing – I had so looked forward to reading
this book, but after this paragraph, I just couldn’t take
the author serious anymore. Good thing I hadn’t wasted
much time, the quote occurs fairly early in the book…
Rating: 2 / 5
February 6th, 2010 at 1:44 am
How disappointing – I had so looked forward to reading
this book, but after this paragraph, I just couldn’t take
the author serious anymore. Good thing I hadn’t wasted
much time, the quote occurs fairly early in the book.
I guess I’m going to sell it on [INTERNET SITE] to get at least some
of my money back.
Rating: 2 / 5
February 6th, 2010 at 2:32 am
Millions of Christians and Christian leaders do,in fact,promote and believe that Richard Foster’s teaching is Biblically solid. Well other than the fact that Richard Foster endorses Carl Jung who drew his theology from a demon-spirit guide named Philemon via divination and was an enemy of Christ, believes in astral projection, summoning down a spirit and calling him Jesus, praying and meditating with vain repetitions which Jesus said not to do, supports Roman Catholicism which is responsible for the slaughter of millions of martrys (the Pope kissing the Koran..the religion of peace), promotes Buddhist sympathizers Thomas Merton and Henry Nouwen, and a host of other Eastern Meditation and New Age teachers…other than that Richard Foster is a good sound Biblical teacher!
Still not convinced that Richard Foster is a clear and present danger to the Church? Then visit these websites:
http://www.lighthousetrails.com
http://withchrist.org/MJS/renovare.htm
and
http://www.seekgod.ca/renovare.htm
and
http://www.cephasministry.com/new_age_richard_foster.html
Still not convinced that Richard Foster is a false teacher, then email me and I will send you my complete dialogue with Lynda Graybeal, Administrator for Richard Foster and RENOVARE….and for anyone who thinks I am unfairly attacking a good brother in Christ, you will get to read their side of the story too!
Kindest regards in Christ,
James Sundquist
President
Rock Salt Publishing
Rating: 1 / 5
February 6th, 2010 at 3:53 am
The only path this particular book will lead you to is into error! I have owned this book for some time now and after checking this book out against the word of God, any discerning Christian will come to the conclusion that what it teaches is mysticism and a leaning towards the erroneous teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. It is a book which is written in very deceptive Christian sounding language but remains one of the most dangerous, mystical ‘Christian’ books ever to have been written.
Rating: 1 / 5