Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Streams Of Living Water


Book Review.

Foster, Richard J.  Streams Of Living Water.  Celebrating the great traditions of Christian faith.  Harper San Francisco.  1998

R.J.F.- author- Celebration of Discipline and Prayer.  Gold Medallion Award.  Founder of Renovare.

Comment.  Henry.

There is some similarity between this resource and the previous on I did.  The last one was about sixteen spiritual practices of Christianity.  This one is about six traditions; contemplative, holiness, charismatic, social justice, evangelical, and incarnational.  Each presentation (chapter) begins with a ‘timeline’ going from the time of Christ with whom each tradition began up to the present.  Examples are given of individuals and/or organizations that were paramount in the development of each tradition.

The first tradition that is examined is the “Contemplation Tradition” (23).  Mark 6:31.  Antoney of Egypt the founder of the Fathers and Mothers of the 4th century was an early practitioner of this tradition.  John the Beloved is a biblical example of one who practiced contemplation.  “Put simply, the contemplative life is the steady gaze of the soul upon the God who loves us.” (49)

The story of Phoebe Palmer (1807-1874) is presented as an example of the “Holiness Tradition” (59) James the acknowledged leader of the church at Jerusalem is a biblical example.  His epistle is about “the source of action, the heart of virtue.” (70)  Dietrich Bonhoeffer was an eloquent example and proponent of holiness living.  Holiness is not the result of action but a virtue that results in action.

Functioning together with the Holiness Tradition is the “Charismatic Tradition”. (99)  St. Francis of Assisi practiced this tradition.  The apostle Paul is a biblical example.  A contemporary example of people practicing this tradition are those who were impacted by the “Azusa Street Revival”.

Mention of the “Social Justice Tradition” (135) is made in Amos %:24, “Let justice roll down like waters”.  The anti-slavery movement is an example of this happening at a national level. The second part of the ‘great commandment’, Love your neighbor as yourself, is a manifesto of this tradition. It can happen at a personal, interpersonal, and international level.  Justice is motivated by “a life committed to compassion.” (182) 

The life of Augustine illustrates the “Evangelical Tradition”. (197)  Peter is a biblical example.  Our contemporary example would be Billy Graham.  The tradition is defined as “the proclamation of the gospel, the centrality of the Scripture, and the confessional witness”. (219)

Finally we come to the “Incarnational Tradition”. (237)  It “concerns itself with the relationship between spirit and matter.  In short, God is manifest to us through material means.” (260)

“Appendix A” (275-301) gives an interesting overview of some critical turning points in church history as reflected by the Constantine era, the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Protestant Church.

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