Sunday, 25 July 2010 by Paul Dubuc.

A few years ago, I took a seminary elective class in Emergent Christian Spirituality. I had read some things about emergent/emerging Christianity that I found interesting but which also raised questions in my mind. We read and discussed several good books by emergent church leaders or about the emergent church. We even designed our own emergent church service. It was a very good class. I think I gained a good understanding and appreciation for the positive contributions that emergent churches are making and I became quite sympathetic to the complaints they have with their more traditional evangelical church roots. But I couldn’t completely embrace emergent spirituality. I felt like I didn’t have a good home in either camp. I had to agree with some of the problems the more traditional evangelicals see in the emergent church. I wished for a third way. Jim Belcher has articulated that third way very well in his book.

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Saturday, 20 March 2010 by Paul Dubuc.

This book is an exceptionally good introduction to the meaning of personal relationships that are called “spiritual friendship” and ” spiritual direction”. Good spiritual formation doesn’t happen well on a purely individual level. It’s important to have some trusted person(s) with whom one can discuss just about anything and be vulnerable and open. American Protestant Christianity in particular has been too individualistic for it’s own good. The “just me and Jesus” mindset works out little better than “just me” without a third person who is just as committed to life as a spiritual journey being there to observe and help discern the direction of the Holy Spirit in one’s life.

David Benner does a very good job of clearly describing the qualities and characteristics of spiritual friendship and spiritual direction, how they differ from each other and from other similar relationships like counseling, life coaching, discipleship, etc. and how then can be combined in a small group setting or (even!) within the marriage relationship. I highly recommend this book for those who want a good basic understanding of what it means to be “sacred companions”. This is a much needed ministry within the church today. I’m very thankful for the people who have filled this role in my life.

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Tuesday, 23 February 2010 by Paul Dubuc.

This book must be among the best of Henri Nouwen’s writing. In it he gives some very deep and penetrating insight o the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) and its illustration in Rembrandt’s painting of the Return of the Prodigal Son. Nouwen shares with the reader the meaning he found for his own spiritual journey in studying the painting; how it illuminated the ways he was like the younger son, the elder son and how he felt called to be more like the father. Readers may see similar parallels in their own lives. This is a very helpful book. My own poster of this painting now hangs on the wall of my study.

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Sunday, 24 January 2010 by Paul Dubuc.

I’ve read many helpful books on spiritual formation in my seminary work, for other classes I have taken, and on my own. I have many more lined up to read. Few that I have read have been more helpful to me than Ben Campbell Johnson’s Living Before God: Deepening our Sense of the Divine Presence. This is one book that I will come back to often. This book had much to say to me about what concerns me most at my stage of life experience. Johnson brings more that 50 years of his own experience in “living before God” to share with his readers in a most personal and engaging way. He shares his life with you, not just his ideas.

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Saturday, 7 November 2009 by Paul Dubuc.

I wrote this review on the first edition of this book back in 2001 and posted it on Amazon.com. I want to put it here also because I think it’s one of the most important books I’ve ever read. Read on if you’re interested:

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Sunday, 27 September 2009 by Paul Dubuc.

I recently read an essay in the current issue of The Atlantic by Christopher Hitchens entitled “Cheap Laughs: The smug satire of liberal humorists debases our comedy—and our national conversation.” Hitchens’ complaint with liberal humorists like Al Franken and Jon Stewart seems to be that they are as ideologically bound as their right wing counterparts. Their satirical wit employs a double standard that belies the inconsistencies and foibles of reigning liberal politicians while continuing to hold chastened conservatives up to scorn. I could be wrong. Hitchens doesn’t seem to make his point clearly, but he seems to want to hold liberal humorists up to a higher standard than others, and seems dismayed at the way some of them are being compared favorably with Mark Twain or Walter Cronkite.

Then, while cleaning out some old magazines, I happened to read a column in the April issue of Touchstone by J. Daryl Charles called “Wasted By Watching” (sorry, it’s not online at this time) about what I think is one of the most important books I have ever read.

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Thursday, 17 September 2009 by Paul Dubuc.

This is a very helpful book. Peter Scazzero draws from many different sources and presents their content in easily digestible form. The issues he deals with are very important ones for any Christian who wants to grow spiritually into the Christlike person that God intended him or her to be. The basic premise of the book is that it’s impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature (though it often does work the other way around). Those who want to grow spiritually must grow and maintain their emotional health. Lacking in this is at the root of the failure of many discipleship models being used in the church today.

After describing the problem and symptoms of emotionally unhealthy spirituality Scazzero gives us as an outline of a life that balances contemplative spirituality (consciously living one’s life in God’s presence) and our daily activity. Following that are several chapters on different aspects of reaching emotional and spiritual health: Accepting and understanding your emotions and understanding your “true self”. Healing the wounds of past experiences that hinder emotional and spiritual health. Dealing with the experience of your life hitting a “wall” in upheavals beyond your own control to remedy and the feeling that life has passed you by. Grieving over past mistakes and losses in life rather than trying to “stuff” them and pretend they no longer matter. The proper place of sabbath rest, recreation and refocusing on God throughout each day. Learning to love well. Developing a “Rule of Life” to help you be more conscious of, and intentional about, your spiritual and emotional growth.

This is a very good book for individuals and groups to spend significant time studying and applying. I also recommend the companion book by the same author, Begin the Journey with the Daily Office for those who have had trouble developing a habit for fixed times of prayer throughout the day. This book is a very good start and follows the themes in Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. Very few people live well on one meal a day (even if it’s a large one). More small meals a day keep your body supplied better. The same is true of time spent with God.

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Friday, 27 February 2009 by Paul Dubuc.

Looking for something to read for Lent? I found this one, Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter, in 2003 and I’m using it again this year.

“For Breadth of scope and depth of insight nothing rivals this collection”, says on the dust jacket. I heartily agree! This collection of readings is the best supplement to Lenten and Easter devotional reading that I have ever used. I’ve never seen such a selection of great authors’ writings between the covers of one book. Each of the 72 selections are about 4 or 5 pages long. They are grouped into 6 sections that form a progression from the Invitation prepare for Easter by seriously examining oneself and following through on the themes of Temptation, Passion, Crucifixion, Resurrection and New Life. There are quite a variety of perspectives represented in these writings. Every one of them will reward the thoughtful reader in different ways. There isn’t a dull one in the bunch. These aren’t shallow “inspirational” writings. They will challenge and encourage, and sustain serious reflection. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I’d say that Malcolm Muggeridge’s “Impending Resurrection” was the high point. I highly recommend this book.

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Monday, 19 January 2009 by Paul Dubuc.

Dallas Willard’s book, Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God, has the most practical, wise and biblically sound reading I have ever done on the subject of divine guidance. It’s a book worth reading over and again for those who wrestle with the problems of how God communicates with us personally: Is it presumptuous to think that God would want to communicate with us directly? Isn’t the Bible an entirely sufficient revelation of God’s will for any and all Christians? What is the relationship between the Bible and more personal forms of communication from God? How do we reliably distinguish the voice of God from our own thoughts and desires? What if something which I believe God is telling me later proves to be mistaken? Willard deals with these issues in very perceptive and insightful ways, not with pat answers and formulas. (Though he does provide one formula at the end of the book, it’s for “living with God’s voice”, not for getting God to speak with us on matters that may concern us.)

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Thursday, 6 September 2007 by Paul Dubuc.

For devoted Christians who struggle with clinical depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia this book will be a godsend. The author is a trained theologian and Anglican priest who has experienced these forms of mental illness and anguish first-hand. The title comes from a translation of the last verse of Psalm 88. Subtitled, “A Christian Response to Mental Illness“, the book is not so much a chronicle of her experience as it is one of her effort to find meaning in that experience through her Christian faith. Christians have often experienced suffering in one form or another, but mental illness bears a stigma that makes it a form of suffering that is often borne in secret. In sharing her struggle, the author reveals remarkable insight and courage with a touch of humor. She bravely confronts those who do not understand her experience–from fellow Christians with less than helpful advice to secular psychiatrists who show bafflement or even distain for her religion–even while accepting from them whatever is true or helpful. The only true enemy she has is her illness and its symptoms. She comes through her struggle wounded but transformed by the experience, a whole person, able to find meaning in it in the light of her faith in Christ.

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