Swimming in the Streams of Christian Faith

 

 

Swimming in the Streams
of Christian Faith

Take the plunge, enjoy the waters.

 

I am an evangelical who loves the rich diversity of authentic spirituality in the 2000 years of Christian tradition. 

I have not always loved it. In fact, for a long time, I wasn't even aware of it, much less understood or appreciated it. In the last dozen or so years, I have been immersing myself in the waters of our ancient faith.

Well, that's not exactly right. I started out dipping my toes in the water. Than slowly wading in up to the knees. Looking around. Acclimating to these brisk waters. And finally, taking the plunge into certain inviting pools.

Let me be clear that I am speaking about Christian traditions of spirituality. There is no need for me to go outside the Christian faith to find wisdom and guidance in other religions. Some contemporary pluralists advocate other religious faiths as needed to correct the deficiencies in Christianity. I disagree, but that is a matter for another time.
 

(Note: As one who is interested in world religion and missional engagements with the world, I have read a fair amount in the field of world religion. But I do this from a position of faith and fidelity to Christ, who is for me, the supreme and unique revelation of God to us. The uniqueness of Christ means there are significant differences between essential Christian spirituality and that of other religions. But as I said, that is for other posts. The Jesus Way by Eugene Peterson is a good place to start to discover just how unique is the way of Jesus.)
 

The Christian tradition(s) are wide and deep and beyond most of our capacity for total exploration, discovery, and integration. 

There are times when I lament my lack of time to sufficiently explore my own primary tradition, much less excursions in to the other inviting waters. In recent weeks, I have spent a lot of time reading classics in my own spiritual tradition. Some of these were new to me. Others I had read a long time ago. But the re-reading was a deeper, better reading for me. I came away with a list of about twenty other books that would be worth reading (in my own tradition).

In this new year of 2012, I am planning on reading many of these spiritual (and theological) classics, allowing their wisdom to seep in to my heart and soul, and morph my life with Christ. I am excited about this.

But I also plan to read widely, and in a few cases, deeply in these other Christian spiritual traditions. In the next several posts, I'll give some thoughts on how you can do some exploration (swimming around) in these streams of living water.
 

Brian K. Rice  
Evangelicals on the Ignatian Way  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

 

Comments

[Literary_mom]

I'm thinking of doing the same - I'm comparing book lists to narrow down which ones to read this year. Renovare just published a book of the 25 best Christian books to read, so I'm using that as well as an older book - Great Books of the Christian Tradition by Terry Glaspey (his is more comprehensive and also has a section for classics and children's books).

[Leadership Connextions International]

Hey Literary Mom.   

First, I love your Title (Literary Mom) and your passion for good literature. Like the one you mentioned, I have a number of other much more extensive collections and recommendations for reading. I saw the latest one from Renovare, looked through it... but didnt pick it up. I probably will later.   Have you read The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing To Our Brain by Carr?  With your interest in reading I think you would really appreciate his perspective on the decline of reading and our ability to read.  Blessings on your personal journey of reading the best books and then on sharing your discoveries with others.  -bkr-