Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline has sold over one million copies and was named by Christianity Today as one of the top ten books of the twentieth century. Foster is heavily influenced by the Quaker tradition and the introspective bent of this religion clearly shows in his works. He has since expanded on Celebration of Discipline by writing Streams of Living Water which is an analysis of different spiritual traditions: contemplative: the prayer-filled life; holiness: the virtuous life ; charismatic: the Spirit-empowered life; social justice: the compassionate life; evangelical: the Word-centered life; and incarnational: the sacramental life. Foster (along with several others) also wrote the devotional The Life with God Study Bible, which emphasizes the introspective element of Christianity. Foster clearly has carved his identity in the spiritual formation landscape, and much of that identity shows up in Celebration of Discipline.
Christians will commend Foster’s book on the major areas. The goal of Celebration of Discipline is to be transformed into Christ. This purpose is reiterated and/or reviewed in nearly every chapter of the book. One of the strengths of Celebration of Discipline is the straightforward clarity encompassed in each chapter. Foster borrows heavily from saints of all times and all backgrounds: Eastern Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant. On one hand this makes for well-rounded expertise, on the other, such inclusion has been a major critique in Foster. Another interesting paradox is that Foster does not bring up evangelism explicitly in this work on the disciplines; in fact, the term is not even mentioned. One wonders what was Foster’s criterion for categorizing the disciplines in this manner? For instance, he considers submission to be a discipline, but does not include evangelism or encouragement for that matter (using Foster’s criteria for submission could also be used for encouragement). Another example is that confession of sin is a clear command (one of Foster’s disciplines), but fasting is not a direct command (by Foster’s admission). Readers will also take what appear to be significant inconsistencies with Foster. For example, his section on prayer, particularly using child-like imagination seems to contradict his section on the revealed word of God. Another example occurs in his chapter on guidance through group experience can be severely misunderstood at best and appears contradictory to his section on the word. Foster’s book should be treasured as a worthy source on the subject. Granted, he should be read discerningly, but is not good scholarship disallowing “throwing the baby out with the bathwater”?
Be careful, that "baby" might just be a roaring lion, goat, or wolf.
ReplyDeleteThink of it this way, would you serve the brownies to your family and eat them yourself if they contained just a small bit of dog poop?