Customer Reviews

Ancient Christian Devotional: A Year of Weekly Readings, Lectionary Cycle A

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This is a unique devotional that I highly recommend for those interested in tying their spiritual lives closer to that of the Church. Each of the fifty-two weeks' readings is aimed at nourishing your mind and heart with wisely excerpts from the rich patristic heritage of the early Church. You may follow the lectionary itself or go on your own in a thematic approach.

What I would also suggest is that readers who are interested in this volume would consider the fact that all of the writers in this collection wrote out of their experience of the common liturgical life of the Church, with all of the holy days, Eucharistic celebrations, baptism, fasting periods and feasting periods etc. This book is a great example of the fruit that is born out of such a life, which still exists in the Eastern Orthodox tradition in full force. For these writers, Christianity was never a "me and Jesus" experience, but one which understood itself as part of the Body of Christ, partaking of the holy mysteries and worshipping at one altar before the triune God who has revealed Himself to us in His incarnate, crucified and resurrected Christ.

Ut Unum Sint.

I was so delighted to discover this wonderful devotional. The collection of writings from the church fathers is invaluable. So many modern Protestant Christians are unaware of the rich heritage we have in our history. This devotional is very thoughtful, but still very accessible. What a joy to journey into the heart of Christ with those who have gone before!

After purchasing my first copy, I bought several as gifts for friends and colleagues in my church. InterVarsity should be congratulated for a devotional that is ecumenically useful: evangelicals, mainline Protestants and Roman Catholics can profitably use this devotional to accompany the ecumenical lectionary through the church year with brief commentaries from the first centuries of Christian spirituality.

The devotional matches each reading from the Sunday lectionary with comments from the Church Fathers (and occasionally, Mothers). This is a rich source of Christian inspiration from ancient sources that until now have been unavailable to the average lay Christian. There are enough readings to make this a useful book of devotions for each day of the week.

You may have to learn something about the lectionary to use this book: the dates published in the devotional won't necessarily be the right dates when this year's edition (corresponding to Lectionary Year A) is used again three years from now. There's no problem with identifying Sundays like the "First Sunday in Lent," but at other times of the year (especially the later Sundays after Epiphany and the earlier Sundays after Pentecost) you'll need to match the readings with what your church is reading on the coming Sunday to figure out whether you're using the right week. So there's a bit of a learning curve. I wish this had been better explained in the introduction.

Some readers may not know that the lectionary that forms the basis of this devotional is the same used widely in Protestant and Anglican churches, and is very close to the Sunday mass lectionary used in the Roman Catholic Church.

Used with the Bible and any version of the "daily office" (as in the Book of Common Prayer or The New Century Psalter), this devotional can add value both to personal and public daily prayer.

This beautifully edited devotional follows a liturgical lectionary and adds comments from ancient writers. The real appeal here is that there are no lengthy comments on the comments of the patriarchs. The comments are allowed to speak for themselves. This is a wonderful and insightful book.

Pray and Read with the Early Church

Christian devotional books are a dime a dozen. The market is flooded with new releases every year, most of which are average at best and ultimately ephemeral. This one is different. Instead of focusing on the contemporary and that which is passing away, the "Ancient Christian Devotional" helps Christians from all branches of Christ's Church to connect to the saints and the Church of all ages.

The "Ancient Christian Devotional" provides a year of weekly readings for each week of the year. It is a rich devotional resource that provides a structure for the devotions of God's people, while drawing upon the riches of the saints of the past. The theme and lessons are drawn from the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) used by the mainline churches (Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist) and Roman Catholic Church. This is a 3-year cycle of readings for each week of the year and is tied to the liturgical life of the church and the church year.

Each week is divided up into the following sections:

Overview of the Theme for the Week

Opening Prayer (taken from early church resources)

Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel Readings

Psalm of Response

Reflections from the Church Fathers

Closing Prayer

The "Ancient Christian Devotional" is, therefore, an invaluable devotional resource that will help Christians place their private devotions in their proper context of the life of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. Hopefully, it will lead many Christians to explore the writings of the church fathers more and see their lives in the Church in more holistic terms.

I have one significant criticism of the book, and that the devotionals are based on a weekly and not daily cycle. Oden, the editor, gives very little direction in how to use the devotional on a daily basis, and having a daily devotional time is what most of us are struggling with. You'll have to be creative if you want to use this book on a daily, and not weekly, basis.

Having said this, the book deserves 5 stars because of the importance of helping to teach us all to read, pray, and meditate with the Church, and not apart from her.

If you are looking for weekly or yearly devotionals you probably already have at least one or two more satisfying than this one.
If this is going to be your first devotional you will probably continue exploring and find others more completely satisfying.
The use of the ancient fathers is good. I have found other books that much more completely discuss and quote the fathers to be more useful.