Life with God: Reading the Bible for Spiritual Transformation (Hardcover)

~ Richard J. Foster (Author)
Key Phrases: holy expectancy, disciplined grace, People of God, Holy Spirit, Spiritual Disciplines (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Foster (Celebration of Discipline) has built a career exploring foundational spiritual practices like fasting, prayer, study and worship. Here he zeroes in on Bible study to help Christians grow in their faith. Although Bible study is nothing if not a well-trod topic, Foster breathes new life into it by drawing on ancient resources: he is especially interested in the age-old practice of lectio divina, sacred reading that requires the attention of both mind and heart. Foster cautions several times that lectio divina is neither a magical solution to problems nor an approach that bypasses the living God by treating the Scriptures as a sort of Ouija board. He warns that the Bible is also not an owner's manual for successful living or even moral living; we shouldn't read it merely to serve our own needs. Rather, lectio divina offers an invitation to enter the Bible as a story (or a complex group of stories) and enter its river of life. As usual, Foster's work is not for those readers who are seeking quick answers or a behavioral checklist of what the Bible says they should do. Rather, it is a deep reflective guide to spiritual rumination and growth. (Apr. 22)
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Review

"A deep reflective guide to spiritual rumination and growth." (Publishers Weekly (starred review) )

You hold in your hands a very wise book written for anyone who craves a deep, palpable connection to God. If you want to discover new ways of entering the Bible, and letting it enter you, you will find no better guide than Richard Foster. (Lauren F. Winner, Duke Divinity School, author of Girl Meets God )

"Richard Foster awakens us to God's continued desire to commune with us despite the deafness of our sin-blunted ears. From long experience, he shows how the dynamic use of the spiritual disciplines can open our ears to God's voice. A book to read slowly." (David Neff, Editor in Chief, Christianity Today )

Foster is a reliable, compelling guide for a life in which God is a defining agent. The news from Foster is good indeed: God is with us! (Walter Brueggemann, Emeritus Professor of Old Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary )

"Alluring warmth, empathetic breadth, and twenty-twenty perceptiveness, mild on sin but firm on grace, have together become the hallmark of the Renovare books. This pathway into the "with-God life" is a worthy addition to the study." (J.I. Packer, Professor of Theology, Regent College and author of Knowing God. )

"For some time now Richard Foster has been teaching us how to live with a living God. Those of us who would follow Jesus, must inculcate and practice the disciplines required for discipleship. Who better points us toward the discipline life than Richard Foster? This is a transforming, radiant book." (Will Willimon, Bishop, the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church and author of Conversations with Barth about Preaching (Abingdon, 2007) )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (May 13, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060836970
• ISBN-13: 978-0060836979
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #18,765 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reading the Bible for Transformation, August 2, 2008

By	Benjamin A. Simpson (De Soto, KS) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Richard Foster has provided us with yet another treasure. I found this book an encouraging guide to the reading of the Scriptures. Foster invites his readers to enter the world of the Bible and find a God who is intimately and personally involved with his creation. This God has invited us into relationship, and Foster directs his reader how they might be transformed by this relationship through the reading of the Bible. A common refrain in Foster's account is that God is continually found in the Scriptures as being with his people, yet God asks us, "Are you with me?" God is present with us. Foster challenges us to learn how to pay attention.

The book includes instruction on how to read the Bible with the heart, the mind, and within the context of the community. Foster, drawing from the work of Dallas Willard, wants to encourage his readers to take up the reading of the Bible in a way that one's character is transformed. He believes that the Bible, by God's grace, can help us to be disciplined people who "do the right thing at the right time for the right reason." Foster's final section instructs the reader on how they might be disciplined in relationships, discover freedom in Christ, and walk by God's grace.

This book is a good read with a number of examples drawn from Foster's experience and his extensive readings from classic devotional works. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to further refine their approach to reading the Bible.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I am with you, will you be with me?, October 26, 2008

By	J. Bickford "jcb2354" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Foster condenses the whole of the Bible into the above simple phrase, and with the simple stroke of a pen it comes clear. God is with us! From beginning to end God is with us! Do we desire to be with him? Anyone who has read Foster before knows the gentle and almost poetic nature of his writing. He is not negative or judgmental but always calling us to a way of life that is with God.
In this work Foster gives us the vision of what vision of what a life immersed in the scriptures can bring to us, the intention of our hearts, minds and community to do our part, and the means to begin the process.
People who have read any of Foster's previous works will see a common theme running through them - discipline, and this book is no exception. It does a fine job of reviewing the highlights of his past work and clarifying the spiritual disciplines again to ward us away from both `legalism' and `cheap grace' and guide us toward a life where we do what we can do and allow God to do what we cannot do.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much more than I was hoping for..., June 9, 2009

By	Mr. T (Glendale, Arizona United States) - See all my reviews

I went to Amazon to purchase another book by Richard Foster. When I saw the suggestion for this title, its subtitle intrigued me very much, "Reading the Bible for Spiritual Transformation". I bought the book based on that subtitle and I was not disappointed. In addition, it addressed the larger subject of the spiritual disciplines. I got what I was hoping for and much, much, more. This great book puts into perspective the key message/theme of the whole Bible. I totally recommend it to anyone who cares about getting from the Bible what God has put there for us.