A Gospel for the Mature Years: Finding Fulfillment by Knowing and Using Your Gifts (Haworth religion & mental health) [Paperback]

Harold G Koenig (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 4, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0789001705 | ISBN-13: 978-0789001702 | Edition: 1

There’s good news for middle-aged and older adults who wish to grow emotionally and spiritually and experience satisfaction and joy in their mature years regardless of circumstance, health, or age. A Gospel for the Mature Years shows you how to achieve joy and fulfillment by developing a deep, personal, intimate relationship with God, recognizing your God-given gifts, and using your abilities in service to others. Our later years are not meant to be a time for idleness and withdrawal from life. Rather, this is an exciting, meaningful, and action-packed time when we should grab hold of life and live it fully, advancing God’s kingdom in our families, communities, and nation.

Meant both for individual reading and for use in churches as a workbook for small discussion groups, A Gospel for the Mature Years is arranged to facilitate use in classes running on a calendar quarter of 13 Sundays. Questions for discussion at the end of each chapter have been designed to encourage individual preparation for participation in the group. Specific topics you learn about include:

• emotional growth and spiritual development
• achievement of well-being and fulfillment
• achieving Christian maturity
• preventing depression
• counseling and caregiving
• using one’s gifts and talents
• overcoming barriers to loving and serving others
• avoiding burnout and exhaustion when loving and serving others
  
  These are increasingly difficult times, requiring that God’s people work together by utilizing their talents for the benefit of others. The authors make clear that the call to service does not end with retirement. We can use this inspirational book to identify our gifts and learn how to best use them in service to God and others. A Gospel for the Mature Years will help us produce a society of people with vision--a vision of hope that life can have meaning and purpose regardless of circumstance, and of faith that every person has been given a gift that will enable them to make a difference in this world and make it a better place for their children and grandchildren.

Editorial Reviews

Review

There's good news for middle-aged and older adults who wish to grow emotionally and spiritually, and experience satisfaction and joy in their mature years regardless of circumstance, health, or age. A Gospel For The Mature Years shows how to achieve joy and fulfillment by developing a deep, personal, intimate relationship with God, recognizing God-given gifts, and using abilities in service to others. The later years are not meant to be a time for idleness and withdrawal from life. Rather, this is an exciting, meaningful, action-packed time when Christians should grab hold of life and live it fully, advancing God's kingdom in our families, communities, and nation. Specific topics addressed include emotional growth and spiritual development, achievement of well-being and fulfillment, achieving Christian maturity, preventing depression, counseling and caregiving, using one's gifts and talents, overcoming barriers to loving and serving others, and avoiding burnout and exhaustion when loving and serving others. A Gospel For The Mature Years is highly recommended reading for those whom advancing years have opened up new opportunities to become active in the pursuit of personal spiritual maturity and continuing service to others. -- Midwest Book Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 174 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (April 4, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789001705
• ISBN-13: 978-0789001702
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,820,000 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Koenig completed his undergraduate education at Stanford University, his medical school training at the University of California at San Francisco, and his geriatric medicine, psychiatry, and biostatistics training at Duke University Medical Center. He is board certified in general psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry and geriatric medicine, and is on the faculty at Duke as Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Associate Professor of Medicine, and is on the faculty at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as a Distinguished Adjunct Professor. He is also a registered nurse. Dr. Koenig is Director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University Medical Center, and has published extensively in the fields of mental health, geriatrics, and religion, with over 350 scientific peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and nearly 40 books in print or in preparation. He is considered by biomedical scientists as one of the world's top experts on religion and health (http://www.biomedexperts.com/Concept.bme/18754/Religion). His research on religion, health and ethical issues in medicine has been featured on dozens of national and international TV news programs (including ABC's World News Tonight, The Today Show and two episodes of Good Morning America), nearly a hundred national or international radio programs, and hundreds of newspapers and magazines (including Reader's Digest, Parade Magazine, Newsweek, Time, and Guidepost). Dr. Koenig has given testimony before the U.S. Senate (1998) and U.S. House of Representatives (2008) concerning the benefits of religion and spirituality on public health, and travels widely to give seminars and workshops on the topic. His latest books are (1) Faith and Mental Health (2005), (2) In the Wake of Disaster (2006), (3) Spirituality in Patient Care (2007), Medicine, Religion and Health (2008), Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry (2009), Handbook of Religion and Health, Second Edition (Jan/Feb 2012, Oxford University Press), and Spirituality and Health Research: Methodology, Measurement, Analyses, and Resources (2011).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for every person age 50 or over, October 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Gospel for the Mature Years: Finding Fulfillment by Knowing and Using Your Gifts (Haworth religion & mental health) (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book, and have used it in small groups with others in church. Great feedback from others about usefulness in helping persons our age (50's) spiritually grow and find new meaning and purpose in life as we age.