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Celebration of Discipline  By  cover art

Celebration of Discipline

By: Richard J. Foster
Narrated by: Richard Rohan
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Publisher's summary

Hailed by many as the best modern book on Christian spirituality, Celebration of Discipline has helped more than one million seekers discover a richer spiritual life infused with joy, peace, and a deeper understanding of God.

Celebration of Discipline explores the "classic disciplines", or central spiritual practices, of the Christian faith. Along the way, Foster shows that it is only by and through these practices that the true path to spiritual growth can be found.

Dividing the disciplines into three movements of the spirit, Foster shows how each of these areas contribute to a more balanced spiritual life. The inward disciplines of mediation, prayer, fasting, and study offer avenues of personal examination and change. The outward disciplines of simplicity, solitude, submission, and service prepare us to make the world a better place. The corporate disciplines of confession, worship, guidance, and celebration bring us nearer to one another and to God.

Foster provides a wealth of examples demonstrating how these disciplines can become part of our daily activities and how they can help us shed our superficial habits and "bring the abundance of God into our lives". He offers crucial new insights on simplicity, demonstrating how the biblical view of simplicity, properly understood and applied, brings joy and balance to our inward and outward lives and "sets us free to enjoy the provision of God as a gift that can be shared with others". The discussion of celebration, often the most neglected of the disciplines, shows its critical importance, for it stands at the heart of the way to Christ. Celebration of Discipline will help motivate Christians everywhere to embark on a journey of prayer and spiritual growth.

©1978, 1988, 1998 Richard J. Foster (P)2007 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"The best modern book on Christian spirituality....No other book apart from the Bible has been so helpful to me in the nurturing of my inward journey of prayer and spiritual growth." (Ronald J. Sider, Executive Director, Evangelicals for Social Action)

What listeners say about Celebration of Discipline

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Book, Horribly Audiobook to Navigate

Love the book itself, this review is for the audiobook and not the content... This audiobook is only split into have sections when the actual book has serve along sections and sub chapters. I wish it were broken up like the actual book to make it simpler to find and revise specific sections, especially since this is a reference book of sorts.

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13 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

amazing book

the book is great but I struggled because the chapters don't line up with the book. I'm in grad school and this was an annoyance I struggled to deal with.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Thought-provoking and challenging

"Celebration of Discipline" by Richard Foster is a thought-provoking and challenging book about Christian spiritual disciplines. These disciplines include meditation, prayer, fasting, study, simplicity, solitude, submission, service, confession, worship, guidance, and celebration. Although I am not able to meet many of the principles and suggested techniques in the book, I think it does a wonderful job of advocating that a religious life should have many more facets and attributes than simply prayer, attending a service, and reading scripture.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

very good book

this book is based on principles not rules and gives insight into areas of the spiritual life which are typically clouded w/ mystery

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10 people found this helpful

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Great Book on the Disciplines

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Definitely Yes. If you're serious about growing in your faith, this is a great read. It revealed several disciplines I hadn't even considered.

What other book might you compare Celebration of Discipline to and why?

Dallas Willards The Spirit of the Disciplines

What about Richard Rohan’s performance did you like?

very good

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

no

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7 people found this helpful

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Spiritual and Practical

I would recommend this book to anyone desiring to go further in the spiritual walk. It is full of spiritual wisdom and gives practical advice on how to put these concepts into practice. He is very careful to warn of the pitfalls in each area as well as extolling the virtues of each practice. This is a wonderful work!

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6 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

nuggets of biblical wisdom, but too much mysticism

this book does a good job of trying to strike a balance between times of solitude and times in community, times of silence and times of discussion and loud praise. however, Foster puts too little emphasis on the need to be grounding everything in scripture, and checking everything with scripture. in the end, studying and meditating on God's word is just 2 disciplines among many others. too often he relies on man's shaky wisdom by often quoting men and instructing the reader to follow the moving of their spirit and the inner voice of God. like Schaeffer says, God is there, and he has spoken in Bible. he may speak to us through voices, feelings, and other people, but just like the prophets in the OT, these oracles NEED to be tested by scripture.

in the end, this book puts too much focus on striving for mystical revelations, rather than grounding everything in the sure word of God.

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4 people found this helpful

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A must read for anyone striving for holliness

I believe I have listened to this book 4 time now. I want to become this disciple of Christ. I have purchased the hardcopy as well (twice) I gave the first one away. Please, Please read!

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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This book has no equal on the topic!

In pro sports, getting on the team is one thing. Staying on it and being used is altogether different! That’s the difference between being a nominal Christian vs a Disciple of Christ. Jesus said Make/Be disciples! This book shows how!! It’s transformational!! So get extras for your family!!!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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The Glaring Lack of Spiritual Discipline

Foster has written a great book of concept and guidance. It’s not great because I agree with each point. In fact, there is much I do not really have praise for.

However, he offers instruction in spiritual discipline that has been lacking in most of the few low ships I have been committed to.

He is thought provoking and completely nails this:
The Christian life without spiritual disciplines is a counterfeit.

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2 people found this helpful