Theme of the Week
Spirituality
Reader: Kitty Simmons
Author: Richard Foster
Title: Celebration of Discipline, the Path to Spiritual Growth
Call Number: BV4501.2 .F655 1988
Rating: 5
I had enough discipline to finish reading this book, but am not yet ready for the celebration.
This is a wonderful book that manages to merge practical suggestions with philosophical ideas and religious ideals. I realized early on that the rather fast kind of reading I needed to do to get this book report out would be inadequate for the long term value available here. Each chapter really requires contemplation and reflection followed by committed action for the maximum benefit. It is also the kind of work that lends itself well to discussion with others, so I would recommend it highly to anyone looking for a book to share in a small discussion group setting. Be forewarned that this book has the potential to transform your life.
The text is divided into three sections with a chapter for each discipline discussed: Inward Disciplines (meditation, prayer, fasting, study); Outward Disciplines (simplicity, solitude, submission, service); and, Corporate Disciplines (confession, worship, guidance, celebration). A scripture index, chapter notes, and bibliography provide additional resources for delving deeper into each area. The perspective of this text is firmly grounded in Biblical scripture and in the classic literature of Christian spirituality. Complex concepts are presented in an easily accessible style. Although the reading is easy, the response encouraged by the reading is truly challenging.
Kitty J. Simmons, Library Director
Reader: Cindy Parkhurst
Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Title: Eat, Pray, Love
Call Number: E169.04 .B78 1989
Rating: 4
Summary: Elizabeth Gilbert’s book is part travel log, part memoir and part spiritual odyssey. This is the story of one woman’s attempt to find balance in her turbulent, young, upwardly mobile, chronically depressed, recently divorced life. You may have guessed that her book is quite inwardly pointed and you would be correct. Usually these self-reflective books wear me down pretty quickly, but I enjoyed Gilbert’s book. Instead of apologizing for her “self-focus” she revels in it and decides to find balance by taking a year long “I” trip. This trip starts in Italy - she’’s always wanted to learn Italian and eat a lot of Italian food. From there she goes to India - where she spends four months meditating and praying at an Ashram. Finally, she goes to Indonesia to visit a medicine man who read her palm and told her to come back to Bali to find her future. While in Bali, she falls in love with a Brazilian man.
Now, how is this book a spiritual book? About 75 pages into my reading I began to wonder if I had picked an inappropriate book for the theme. I still believe that there are many other really great spiritual books out there, but I found some themes highlighted in this book that have been important to me in my life. She focuses on gratitude and contentment as sources of happiness. While she started her journey with very little of either of these virtues, time spent in solitude and prayer enhanced her both her contentment and her ability to say thank-you.
I enjoyed the book for what it was - the story of someone’s personal spiritual journey. My journey is different but I think it is valuable to look at how other people make their way to God.
Cindy Parkhurst
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