The Life with God Bible [Hardcover]

Renovare (Author), Richard J. Foster (Author), Dallas Willard (Author), Walter Brueggemann (Author), Eugene H. Peterson (Author), Bruce Demarest (Author), Evan Howard (Author), James Earl Massey (Author), Catherine Taylor (Author), Rebecca Gaudino (Illustrator), James M. Rand (Reader), Joshua Choon Min Kang (Reader), Emilie Griffin (Reader), Peter Enns (Reader), Tim Beal (Reader), Scott Ellington (Reader), William Bellinger (Reader), Marva J. Dawn (Reader), David de Silva (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 21, 2006

Many people are looking for a fresh way to read the Bible, not as a text to be mastered, but as a story to enter into and a lifestyle to pursue. In this unique Bible, the foremost names in Christian spirituality and biblical scholarship come together to provide a Bible that rediscovers Scripture as living text, rich with insights into how to live our lives more intimately with God.

Spearheaded by bestselling authors Richard J. Foster (Celebration of Discipline) and Dallas Willard (The Divine Conspiracy), The Renovaré Spiritual Formation Bible introduces the concept of the "with-God life," a model for seeing the whole of Scripture as the unfolding story of God's plan for our loving relationship with the Creator. This central theme weaves throughout the essays, introductions, notes, and exercises, powerfully revealing how God is present to his people today and throughout history.

Yet our relationship with God should not be passive. Concrete practices—Spiritual Disciplines—have been used throughout church history to guide disciples of Jesus. This Bible integrates the Spiritual Disciplines into the Christian life by showing how they are central to the Bible's teachings and stories. Abraham and Ruth, Moses and Deborah, Jesus and the disciples all provide amazing examples of the life-changing power of prayer, worship, fasting, celebration, and many other Spiritual Disciplines. Scripture thus becomes a primary means for the discovery, instruction, and practice of these disciplines as well as a tool for spiritual formation.

Combining the highest possible biblical scholarship with the deepest possible heart devotion, this new Bible project seeks to nourish inner transformation by unlocking and revealing the profound resources within Scripture for changing our hearts and characters and bringing them in line with what God wants for our lives. The Renovaré Spiritual Formation Bible will redefine what the Bible means for Christian discipleship.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

What do you get when you mix the life-application practicality of a devotional Bible with the expertise and commentary of a study Bible and the user-friendly graphics of an illustrated Bible? The result might look very much like this outstanding resource. Foster, author of the modern Christian classic Celebration of Discipline, and Willard, who wrote The Divine Conspiracy, spearheaded a team of more than 50 scholars, pastors, theologians and others over five years to produce a Bible that is devoted to spiritual formation. (Brueggemann and Peterson led the teams on the Old and New Testaments, respectively, using the New Revised Standard Version.) Foster writes an introductory note explaining the team's basic mission: to provide "a resource for approaching the Bible through the lens of Christian spiritual formation." An opening essay encourages readers to see the entire Bible as "the unfolding story of God's plan for how we can have an intimate love relationship with our Creator," while 15 other essays speak to various aspects and stages of that relationship, from exile and travail to Christ's coming and the future hope of eternity. The editors also include spiritual exercises, profiles of key biblical figures and discussions of how those individuals practiced spiritual disciplines like prayer and worship. Christians of many different traditions will appreciate this ecumenical resource devoted to spiritual renewal.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Review

“…[T]he most spiritually-impactful Bible of our time.” (John Ortberg, Teaching Pastor, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, author of If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat )

“With great enthusiasm, I open The Renovaré Spiritual Formation Bible. One could not assemble a finer team to compile it.” (Max Lucado, author of Come Thirsty and Traveling Light )

“...Many original and stimulating insights for the spiritual lives of contemporary Christians.” (Christian Century )

“This study Bible is both serious and accessible.” (Tulsa World )

“This Bible helps us desire intimacy with God, not just know the typical facts and knowledge. (Dan Kimball, author of The Emerging Church, and Pastor of Vintage Faith Church )

“This Bible is greatly needed.” (Tony Campolo, author of It's Friday but Sunday's Coming )

“[An] outstanding resource...Christians of many different traditions will appreciate this ecumenical resource devoted to spiritual renewal.” (Publishers Weekly )

“The Renovaré Spiritual Formation Bible … is unrivaled as a classic work of biblical theology suffused with a pastoral heart.” (Brennan Manning, author of Ruthless Trust )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 2048 pages
• Publisher: Harper San Francisco; Reissue edition (November 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060671076
• ISBN-13: 978-0060671075
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.6 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #462,239 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

108 of 120 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but could be better..., May 12, 2005

By 

R. Newberry "Ronnnew" (Mountain View, AR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible (Hardcover)

The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible is just out. This reviewer may add more material later, but here are the 'first' glance remarks.
First, the print in the Bible is larger than most Bibles, both in the text and the notes, a great thing.
Second, the introductions for the most part are well written and insightful. The General Introduction is good in that it sets the tone for the rest of the notes throughout the Bible.
Third, it is uneven. Some authors have many insights into spiritual formation, others do not. For example, Marva Dawn's work in John bypassed a wonderful opportunity to really talk about the Eucharist in spiriual formaiton, but there was an extreme lack of depth there.
Overall, I have given it 4 stars.
PART II
To some readers of this Study Bible, some of the concepts, like the 6 streams of the Fatih may sound new. The beauty of Renovare is its wholistic approach to spiritual formation. We tend to work on one area, but that gets us out of balance to the other critical areas of the faith. While this Bible can be used as a stand alone Bible, it is helpful to use some other Renovare publications with it. "Streams of Living Water" by Richard Foster along with his most famous "Celebration of Discipline" will help put you into the heart of the Renovare philosophy of Spiritual Formation. Dallas Willard's "The Divine Conspiracy" and "Renovation of the Heart" will aid you as well. One of the most helpful Renovare publications is James Smith's "A Spiritual Formation Workbook". This publication will help you begin and sustain a small group for Spiritual Formation. That, after all, is one of the goals of Renovare. Spiritual Formation is not a solitary thing, it works best in a community faith that will encourage, challenge, and hold us accountable for our spiritual life.
Use this Bible and the helpful publications from Renovare and begin a small group and find that in the process, Christ is indeed being formed in us.

73 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't miss this spiritual journey for the world!, July 2, 2005

By 

Murray Pura "scribbling beneath jupiter" (waterton-glacier international peace park, Alberta, Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible (Hardcover)

Personally, I am glad the Renovare editorial board asked those of us involved in the project to provide material that was inspirational, in-depth, thought-provoking, intricate and complex. I have never been of the opinion that Christianity ought to be reducible to a bumper sticker or a t-shirt slogan or that a Bible had to be compact and portable to be of any value. Other generations had no problem with Bibles that weighed a pound or two and had no issue with being afforded the opportunity to access copious amounts of inspirational material. They only asked that it be written with piety and integrity and that it not skate the surface. They expected to work their intellects and their spirits when they cracked open commentaries by Luther or Calvin or the Cappadocian Fathers or Matthew Henry. I believe the Renovare Study Bible lies happily within that tradition of the deeper life. It is jam-packed with essays and meditations and spiritual insights that will keep you thinking and wondering and praying and wrestling for months and years. Look, you have Walter Brueggeman of Old Testament fame, you have Eugene Peterson of The Message and Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, Virginia Stem Owens with all her wonderful literary ability, William Willimon of Duke Chapel with all his refreshing eloquence, Dallas Willard of The Divine Conspiracy, Richard Foster of Celebration of Discipline, Thomas Oden with his love of the old Christian writings, an incredible and eclectic gathering of believers spading the verdant earth of the Holy Bible. I am going through this excellent tome from cover to cover and there is lots of good stuff. They could never have included so much solid material by putting out a slimline Bible. I wouldn't miss this spiritual journey for the world. All these writers and perspectives. It works for me.

37 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars About the binding, October 21, 2005

By 

Charles Van Hemmen "Chuck" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible (Hardcover)

I won't speak to the content, but was the quality of the binding, print and pages ever cheap and poorly done. I appreciate this bible was inexpensive but it does not excuse the shoddy workmanship. For example, pages folded over and inproperly cut, a page from Jeremiah tucked into the blank pages at the end, and type print that appears to (my eyes at least) vary in thickness from page to page.