Customer Reviews

Learning from Jesus: A Spiritual Formation Guide

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I purchased this guide to use with a small group of women, of varying backgrounds and spiritual maturity. So far, we are enjoying the discussions generated by the materials.

I appreciate the design of the materials; each lesson covers one topic and the lessons are designed to teach a spiritual discipline, for example: Bible study or meditation.

The materials use the New Revised Standard Bible, which to me lends a more devotional feel to the Bible study portion of the lessons. This seems to fit, as the lessons also seem designed more to challenge the way you think about the topics, rather than lead you through an in-depth study of the topics.

The materials are great at introducing readers to a broader group of both contemporary and classic Christian writers. The materials are well written, however the vocabulary has proven challenging to two of our ladies who are not native English speakers.

Also, I found it helpful to define Renovare terminology like "spiritual formation" or "with-God life" into words more commonly used in the broader Christian community.

I admire the Renovare organization and think their Spiritual Formation Edition of the Bible is spectacular. Maybe that's why my hopes were too high for this study guide. It is very cerebral and dry. I agree that a deep understanding of Scripture is important, but I also would hope that there would be a more practical, direct approach to learning from Jesus than is presented here. Most of the exercises and "lessons" are very internal and academic. The early chapters in particular seem more oriented towards learning "about" Jesus than learning how to live your life from him. With all the best intentions, I believe this workbook to be too narrow and not "beginner" friendly.