Define Books As Freedom of Simplicity: Finding Harmony in a Complex World
| Original Title: | Freedom of Simplicity: Finding Harmony in a Complex World |
| ISBN: | 0060759712 (ISBN13: 9780060759711) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | ECPA Christian Book Award for Contemporary Issues (1982) |
Richard J. Foster
Paperback | Pages: 272 pages Rating: 4.18 | 2191 Users | 140 Reviews
Particularize Out Of Books Freedom of Simplicity: Finding Harmony in a Complex World
| Title | : | Freedom of Simplicity: Finding Harmony in a Complex World |
| Author | : | Richard J. Foster |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 272 pages |
| Published | : | August 30th 2005 by HarperOne (first published October 22nd 1981) |
| Categories | : | Christian. Nonfiction. Spirituality. Religion. Faith. Christian Living. Christianity |
Narration Supposing Books Freedom of Simplicity: Finding Harmony in a Complex World
As far as spiritual disciplines books go, this is one of the better ones. Foster is (usually) wise enough to know that enforcing a lot of these disciplines and practices as a "law" is legalism. And he doesn't do that. His thesis is simple (no pun intended): simplicity allows us to live in freedom to God (Foster 3). Simplicity exposes our numerous "false selves."How then should one live in simplicity? Here is where it gets tricky. Foster knows he cannot "make" any of his suggestions a law for the Christian life, otherwise he is going beyond the gospel. (Some of the earlier SoJo guys did just that, but to their credit they later retracted their Galatianism). But he does give practical suggestions and many of them are quite good.
Pros:
1. Great section on prayer and fasting.
2. Great section on the False Self (80-81).
3. He is aware that a lot of, say, Ron Sider's earlier proposals probably won't pan out and so he recommends a more balanced approach.c
Cons:
1. Like many connected with Sojourner's Magazine, he accidentally makes the mistake of using big
corporate government to fight big corporate government (181). He advocates multinational institutions to fight multinational institutions.
2. He praises the IMF as a possible rescue organization for the poor. This is ironic since many social justice people criticize the IMF's loan policy as crippling the developing world. So which is it?
3. There are problems with Adam Smith (174), but no one accused Marx and Engels of lifting 2 billion of the world's population out of poverty.
4. He makes the astute observation that spiritual principalities are behind many unjust social structures (164-165). Further, he is correct that these principalities can empower evil multinational corporations. The problem is he paints himself into a corner: he really has no way of fighting these multinational principality structures outside of appealing to something like the UN. This cure is worse than the disease. Further, he says exousiai in Romans 13 means spiritual principalities. That reading really strains the rest of the text, those his larger point holds.
Conclusion:
I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. He is much more balanced than Sider et al. He writes with the wisdom of experience.
Rating Out Of Books Freedom of Simplicity: Finding Harmony in a Complex World
Ratings: 4.18 From 2191 Users | 140 ReviewsCriticize Out Of Books Freedom of Simplicity: Finding Harmony in a Complex World
I've had this book since I was in college (circa 15 years ago), tried to read it three different times and never got past page 3, and finally this fourth time I had enough get-up-and-go to momentum the shit out of it.Foster never specifically defines "simplicity." One can't really without putting rules on it, which he is very emphatic to say aren't necessarily rules to be followed like a checklist or a law. The things he discusses are important but take different forms for different people. YetThis book was phenomenal! When I read the chapter on simplicity in Richard Fosters book Celebration of Discipline I knew I wanted to hear more of what he had to say. This book is an expansion of that single chapter.Foster gave a great old and new testament account of simplicity at the beginning of the book to give biblical foundation. Oftentimes simplicity is a discipline that can be taken out of the Christian context and warped into legalistic or idolic. He then gives in depth descriptions of
The book does have a couple of kernels of wisdom. But in general, not worth your time. There is no clear definition of what simplicity is, making it very hard to follow at times, because it's uncertain what the North Star of Christian simplicity is. According to Foster, this lack of definition is because he recognizes that the concept of simplicity is complex and there are no hard fast rules, particularly in the modern world. That's a great point, but the way it was conveyed just made it harder
"A pivotal paradox for us to understand is that simplicity is both a grace and a discipline...There is no way that we can build up our willpower, put ourselves into this contortion or that, and attain it...It is a discipline because we are called to do something." "The connection between obedience and blessing is genuinely significant, and the significance is not primarily in the notion of being rewarded for doing what is right. That has its place, but it is a minor place, almost a childish
I enjoyed the comprehensive and practical parts of this book and feel challenged to take some of Foster's suggested steps toward simplicity. The final chapter on Corporate Simplicity lost me a bit but I thought this idea was really interesting to think about in light of the consumeristic world we live in: "Perhaps no work is more foundational to the individual embodying Christian simplicity in the world than our becoming more comfortable in our own skin. The less comfortable we are with
I am currently reading this though I have probably already read it due tom my starting midway and then restarting at the beginning. few of my friends have criticized this book based on the Author's background and while I do not agree with everything Foster says and do wish he had a more academic argument for his position nevertheless I find the book challenging.
This book challenged me. Divided in two parts, The Foundation and The Practice, it made me think deeper into what a life of simplicity looks like. The first part was full of examples from Scripture (OT and NT) and from church history on what simplicity is. The second part taught me about how Christians can apply this in their lives.Towards the end, the author dealt with how "the world" could practice simplicity. This is where it got gray for me since this is beyond my scope and it would take a
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