Effort and Grace

Effort and Grace
Author: Simone Kotva
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2020-06-25
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1350113662

Philosophy and theology have long harboured contradictory views on spiritual practice. While philosophy advocates the therapeutic benefits of daily meditation, the theology of grace promotes an ideal of happiness bestowed with little effort. As such, the historical juxtaposition of effort and grace grounding modern spiritual exercise can be seen as the essential tension between the secular and sacred. In Effort and Grace, Simone Kotva explores an exciting new theory of spiritual endeavour from the tradition of French spiritualist philosophy. Spiritual exercise has largely been studied in relation to ancient philosophy and the Ignatian tradition, yet Kotva's new engagement with its more recent forms has alerted her to an understanding of contemplative practice as rife with critical potential. Here, she offers an interdisciplinary text tracing the narrative of spiritual exertion through the work of seminal French thinkers such as Maine de Biran, Félix Ravaisson, Henri Bergson, Alain (Émile Chartier), Simone Weil and Gilles Deleuze. Her findings allow both secular philosophers and theologians to understand how the spiritual life can participate in the contemporary philosophical conversation.

Living in the Balance of Grace and Faith

Living in the Balance of Grace and Faith
Author: Andrew Wommack
Publisher: Destiny Image Publishers
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2011-06-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1680313967

Popular Bible teacher and host of the Gospel Truth broadcast, Andrew Wommack takes on one of the biggest controversies of the church, the freedom of God's grace verses the faith of the believer. Wommack reveals that God's power is not released from only grace or only faith. God's blessings come through a balance of both grace and...

Active Spirituality

Active Spirituality
Author: Brian G. Hedges
Publisher: Shepherd Press
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2014-04-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1936908581

In Active Spirituality, Brian Hedges allows us to read someone else’s mail — a series of warm pastoral letters, written to a young Christian, about the paradox of grace and effort in the life of faith. “Is my Christian life about trying or trusting?” • “Would I describe my relationship to God as running or resting?” • “Is my life more characterized by grace or effort?” Active Spirituality makes it clear that it is both: trying and trusting, running and resting, dependence on grace and exerting disciplined effort. This balance is not about getting my doctrine right, but is key to living a healthy Christian life. So, pull up a chair, settle in, and read over the shoulder of Chris, a struggling young adult trying to find a church, overcome discouragement, live a chaste life, and develop a plan for spiritual growth, all while learning to rest in the finished work of Jesus.

The Art of Grace: On Moving Well Through Life

The Art of Grace: On Moving Well Through Life
Author: Sarah L. Kaufman
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2015-11-02
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 0393243966

"Sarah Kaufman offers an old-fashioned cure for a modern-day ailment. The remedy for our culture of coarseness is grace…This is an elegant, compelling, and, yes, graceful book." —Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive In this joyful exploration of grace’s many forms, Pulitzer Prize–winning critic Sarah L. Kaufman celebrates a too-often-forgotten philosophy of living that promotes human connection and fulfillment. Drawing on the arts, sports, the humanities, and everyday life—as well as the latest findings in neuroscience and health research—Kaufman illuminates how our bodies and our brains are designed for grace. She promotes a holistic appreciation and practice of grace, as the joining of body, mind, and spirit, and as a way to nurture ourselves and others.

Philosophy as a Way of Life

Philosophy as a Way of Life
Author: Matthew Sharpe
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 425
Release: 2021-07-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1350102164

In this first ever introduction to philosophy as a way of life in the Western tradition, Matthew Sharpe and Michael Ure take us through the history of the idea from Socrates and Plato, via the medievals, Renaissance and Enlightenment thinkers, to Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, Foucault and Hadot. They examine the kinds of practical exercises each thinker recommended to transform their philosophy into manners of living. Philosophy as a Way of Life also examines the recent resurgence of thinking about philosophy as a practical, lived reality and why this ancient tradition still has so much relevance and power in the contemporary world.

By Grace Alone

By Grace Alone
Author: Sinclair B. Ferguson
Publisher: Reformation Trust Publishing
Total Pages: 123
Release: 2010
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781567692020

Are you truly amazed by God's grace? Or have you grown accustomed to it? These probing questions and more help us know if we're tasting, savoring, and delighting in God's amazing grace. In this book, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson offers those willing to delver into God's Word a deeper astonishment at being saved by grace alone.

In the Grip of Grace -

In the Grip of Grace -
Author: Max Lucado
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2011-01-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1418515906

Exchange the pressure of accomplishment for the peace of God’s grace When the world demands: achieve, succeed, earn, God says: lean on me, trust me, believe me. That is grace. And that is what God offers: unconditional acceptance of a believing heart. Your heavenly Father loves you enough to hold you in his grace. Pastor and New York Times bestselling author Max Lucado will help you release a false sense of self-sufficiency. rest in God’s unbending and unending gift of grace. remember that God is for you and will carry you through every circumstance. Today, leap from the cliff of self-sufficiency and land in the strong arms of the Father who loves you . . . the Father who catches you—every time—in the grip of his grace.

Finding Grace at the Center (3rd Edition)

Finding Grace at the Center (3rd Edition)
Author: M. Basil Pennington, OCSO
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Total Pages: 94
Release: 2012-12-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1594733635

A new edition of the classic that helped launch the Centering Prayer movement. Centering Prayer is a precious part of the ancient spiritual traditions of the West. When Finding Grace at the Center was first published in 1978, people all over the world welcomed this practical guide to a simple and beautiful form of meditative prayer. Reflections and advice on Centering Prayer’s possibilities—and its pitfalls—are presented with clarity and simplicity, with a vision of the deeper life of the soul that contemplative prayer can bring about. Now, with a new foreword by Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault, PhD, another generation will discover the amazing difference Centering Prayer can make in their lives.

Everyday Ethics

Everyday Ethics
Author: Michael Lamb
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2019-10-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1626167087

What might we learn if the study of ethics focused less on hard cases and more on the practices of everyday life? In Everyday Ethics, Michael Lamb and Brian Williams gather some of the world’s leading scholars and practitioners of moral theology (including some GUP authors) to explore that question in dialogue with anthropology and the social sciences. Inspired by the work of Michael Banner, these scholars cross disciplinary boundaries to analyze the ethics of ordinary practices—from eating, learning, and loving thy neighbor to borrowing and spending, using technology, and working in a flexible economy. Along the way, they consider the moral and methodological questions that emerge from this interdisciplinary dialogue and assess the implications for the future of moral theology.