Shaped by the Word

Shaped by the Word
Author: M. Robert Mulholland, Jr.
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2000
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780835809368

This book explores the role that scripture plays in spiritual formation. Mulholland examines obstacles often encountered in spiritual reading and introduces a new approach to reading that will enliven the scriptures. He also compares informational reading (reading to be informed) with formational reading (reading to be spiritually formed). Readers are released to God's initiative, allowing the scripture to form a spiritual life inside themselves.

Using the Bible in Spiritual Direction

Using the Bible in Spiritual Direction
Author: Liz Hoare
Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
Total Pages: 171
Release: 2016-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0819232580

Spiritual direction is increasingly popular among Christians of all mainstream traditions, with demand for directors outstripping supply in many places. And although the Bible is central to the practice of spiritual direction, very little has been published on how best to use it in this form of ministry. Experienced spiritual director Liz Hoare explores the central role the Bible has played in Christian experience, in order to discourage poor, shallow, or rigid use of the Bible, which can lead to damage and inhibit spiritual growth. According to Hoare, the goal of spiritual direction is not a personal improvement plan but a people who are being shaped into the likeness of Christ, for the flourishing of the church as a whole. Using different methods of praying with the Bible and drawing on historical traditions of Christian spirituality, as well as current literature and practice, this book offers a rich, stimulating, and thoroughly biblical resource for all those who give and receive spiritual direction.

Shaped by the Word Anniversary Edition

Shaped by the Word Anniversary Edition
Author: M. Robert Mulholland
Publisher: Upper Room Books
Total Pages: 173
Release: 2023-10-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0835820475

In the foreword to the first edition of Shaped by the Word, Bishop Rueben Job wrote, "One of the great strengths of this volume is that it grows out of the spiritual pilgrimage of a capable and committed biblical scholar. It was my privilege to hear these lectures when they were presented to the first Academy for Spiritual Formation in 1983. They became for those who heard them a window to God." Nearly forty years later, Shaped by the Word continues to provide this "window to God" to readers across the world. In a success-oriented world, it is easy for Bible study to become another task to perform rather than a transformational experience. Those who hunger for a deep relationship with God often struggle with barriers that keep us from being able to meditate and listen to God with the deepest core of our being. Shaped by the Word seeks to overcome these barriers through a formational reading of the Bible. In this timeless book, Robert Mulholland shows readers how to listen for God's voice in our study of the Word and allow God to lead our reading and understanding so that we may truly be transformed.

Invitation to a Journey

Invitation to a Journey
Author: Mulholland Jr., M. Robert
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2016-04-21
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830893733

M. Robert Mulholland Jr. fleshes out a carefully worded definition of spiritual formation that encompasses the dynamics of a vital Christian life and counters our culture's tendency to trivialize, methodize and privatize spirituality. Now revised and expanded by Ruth Haley Barton with a new foreword, practices and study guide.

The Word of God for the People of God

The Word of God for the People of God
Author: J. Todd Billings
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2010
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0802862357

This book fills a real need for pastors and students. Though there is currently a large body of material on the theological interpretation of Scripture, most of it is highly specific and extremely technical. J. Todd Billings here provides a straightforward entryway for students and pastors to understand why theological interpretation matters and how it can be done. / A solid, constructive theological work, The Word of God for the People of God presents a distinctive Trinitarian, participatory approach toward reading Scripture as the church. Billings's accessible yet substantial argument for a theological hermeneutic is rooted in a historic vision of the practice of scriptural interpretation even as it engages a wide range of contemporary issues and includes several exegetical examples that apply to concrete Christian ministry situations.

The Great Omission

The Great Omission
Author: Dallas Willard
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2006-06-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0060882433

The last command Jesus gave the church before he ascended to heaven was the Great Commission, the call for Christians to "make disciples of all the nations." But Christians have responded by making "Christians," not "disciples." This, according to brilliant scholar and renowned Christian thinker Dallas Willard, has been the church's Great Omission. "The word disciple occurs 269 times in the New Testament," writes Willard. "Christian is found three times and was first introduced to refer precisely to disciples of Jesus. . . . The New Testament is a book about disciples, by disciples, and for disciples of Jesus Christ. But the point is not merely verbal. What is more important is that the kind of life we see in the earliest church is that of a special type of person. All of the assurances and benefits offered to humankind in the gospel evidently presuppose such a life and do not make realistic sense apart from it. The disciple of Jesus is not the deluxe or heavy-duty model of the Christian -- especially padded, textured, streamlined, and empowered for the fast lane on the straight and narrow way. He or she stands on the pages of the New Testament as the first level of basic transportation in the Kingdom of God." Willard boldly challenges the thought that we can be Christians without being disciples, or call ourselves Christians without applying this understanding of life in the Kingdom of God to every aspect of life on earth. He calls on believers to restore what should be the heart of Christianity -- being active disciples of Jesus Christ. Willard shows us that in the school of life, we are apprentices of the Teacher whose brilliance encourages us to rise above traditional church understanding and embrace the true meaning of discipleship -- an active, concrete, 24/7 life with Jesus.

A Guide to Christian Spiritual Formation

A Guide to Christian Spiritual Formation
Author: Evan B. Howard
Publisher: Baker Academic
Total Pages: 423
Release: 2018-01-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 149341139X

Evan Howard, a noted authority on Christian spirituality, provides a holistic, accessible, and informed introduction to Christian spiritual formation written from a broadly evangelical perspective. Howard joins Scripture with themes of community, spirit, formation, and mission in a single integrative guide. The book includes helpful features such as figures, charts, chapter overviews, and formation-focused questions. Its evangelical-ecumenical and global perspectives will appeal to a wide audience. Resources for professors and students are available through Baker Academic's Textbook eSources.

Soul Care in African American Practice

Soul Care in African American Practice
Author: Barbara L. Peacock
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2020-05-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830848207

Spiritual director and pastor Barbara Peacock illustrates how the practices of spiritual formation are woven into African American culture and lived out in the rich heritage of its faith community. Using the examples of ten significant men and women, Barbara helps us engage in practices of soul care as we learn from these spiritual leaders.

The Holy Spirit and Christian Formation

The Holy Spirit and Christian Formation
Author: Diane J. Chandler
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2016-12-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3319426672

This volume discusses the importance of a multidimensional and multidisciplinary approach to Christian formation based upon godly love and the imago Dei (Latin, image of God). Grounded biblically and theologically, this interdisciplinary collection offers perspectives drawn from spirituality, ethics, philosophy, psychology, counselling, ecclesiology, physical health sciences, and leadership studies. Contributors address spiritual, emotional, and psychological formation, while highlighting how suffering has the potential to draw one closer to God and others. The book also details vocational development, appropriate stewardship of the physical body, and the ways in which the Eucharist sacramentally contributes to the process of formation. The book concludes with a call for further exploration of additional research trajectories, not the least of which is how Christian formation contributes to the missio Dei, the mission of God.

Practicing the Power

Practicing the Power
Author: Sam Storms
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2017-02-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310533856

The Bible teaches us that we are to be filled with God's Spirit and that God's presence and grace is manifested among his people as they serve, love, and minister to one another. Yet some of the gifts that God offers to his people aren't commonly seen in many churches today. Gifts of prophecy, healing, tongues, and other supernatural gifts of God seem to be absent, and many Christians are unsure how to cultivate an atmosphere where God's Spirit can work while remaining committed to the foundational truth of God's Word. How can Christians pursue and implement the miraculous gifts of the Spirit without falling into fanatical excess and splitting the church in the process? In Practicing the Power, pastor and author Sam Storms offers practical steps to understanding and exercising spiritual gifts in a way that remains grounded in the word and centered in the gospel. With examples drawn from his forty years of ministry as a pastor and teachers, Storms offers a guidebook that can help pastors, elders, and church members understand what changes are needed to see God move in supernatural power and to guard against excess and abuse of the spiritual gifts. If you long to see God's Spirit move in your church and life, and aren't sure why that isn't happening or where to begin, this book is for you.