3 Review(s)

Richard Foster expounds on his introduction to the successful Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible and his concept of the "with-God life," showing how all of Scripture is unified around the theme of how to have a vibrant and dynamic life with God. For Foster, the with-God life concept allows the "river of life that flows through the Bible into the thirsty wastelands of the human soul." Breaking up history into fifteen epochs that reveal the unfolding of God's plan for seeking out a relationship to us, Foster sees the Bible as "the loving heart of God made visible and plain" to us. The with-God life "is a life of unhurried peace and power. It is solid, serene, simple, radiant. It takes no time, though it permeates all of our time." Readers will discover a whole new way to read Scripture, making it much more a doorway to a lifestyle to master rather than merely knowledge to understand. Too often, our study of the Bible focuses on searching for specific information or some formula that will solve our pressing needs of the moment. But what if we approached the Bible differently, and instead of transforming the text to meet our needs, allowed it to transform "us"? That's exactly the idea behind "Life with God," Richard J. Foster's much-anticipated book on the Bible. Foster, bestselling author of "Celebration of Discipline" and general editor of "The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible," claims that God has superintended the writing of Scripture so that it serves as the most reliable guide for Christian spiritual formation. According to Foster, the Bible is all about human life "with God." As we read Scripture, we should consider how exactly God is "with us" in each story and allow ourselves to be spiritually transformed. By opening our whole selves--mind, body, spirit, thoughts, behavior, and will--to the page before us, we begin to grasp all the Bible has to teach about prayer, obedience, compassion, virtue, and grace and apply it to our everyday lives to achieve a deeper relationship with God. With a wealth of examples and simple yet crucial insights, "Life with God" is an indispensable guide to approaching the Bible through the lens of Christian spiritual formation, revealing that reading the Bible for interior transformation is a far different endeavor than reading the Bible for historical knowledge, literary appreciation, or religious instruction.