The Return

Review: Radical Spirit: 12 Ways to Live a Free and Authentic Life Joan Chittister Convergent 2017 I had heard of this author, but not read any of her work until now.   The front flap says this book contains “twelve simple rules derived from the Rule of Saint Benedict” of which I had little, make that no, prior knowledge.   So, this book initiated me to that way of life and the writing of Chittister.      “Joan Chittister entered the Benedictine Sisters of Erie at the age of 16 and has remained a faithful and instrumental member for over 60 years.” ( http://www.joanchittister.org/about-benedictine-sisters-erie ) “She is one of the most influential religious and social leaders of our time. For 40 years she has passionately advocated on behalf of peace, human rights, women’s issues, and church renewal.” ( http://www.joanchittister.org/about-joan-chittister ). In this book, she tells of her own journey through the “12 simple steps.”  ...

Review: Grace is Greater: God’s Plan to Overcome Your Past, Redeem Your Pain and Rewrite Your Story Kyle Idleman Baker Books 2017 What’s not to like about this book?   Not much in my opinion.   Idleman has a way of talking about grace that hits home in very practical ways.   Ways that we all live every day.   He tackles the hard stuff and tempers it with the grace of God.   A peak at the table of contents says as much.   Grace is Greater…Than Your Mistakes,   …Than   Your Hurts…Than Your Circumstance.   Within those   I found his discussions that touched on forgiveness some of the best I’ve read anywhere.   But, I thought this book was about grace. It is.   Grace and forgiveness are closely linked.   We know that, most of us anyway.   Just like we know that grace is greater.   Grace is something that just reading about it isn’t going to be enough. Idleman covers that ground, too, with some very...

Review: The Bad Habits of Jesus: Showing Us the Way to Live Right in a World Gone Wrong Leonard Sweet Tyndale House Publishers 2016 Leonard Sweet can be counted on to give his readers a good read.   I think so anyway.   May not like what he has to say or what he says, but the book will be very readable.   He can pour on the academic stuff from time to time, but he generally leaves that for others to do.   He has a way of sneaking up on the reader with a story or something that brings his point home.   Sometimes the point is sharp enough to make you uncomfortable with yourself. The Bad Habits of Jesus he admits was written in record time, six weeks (ix), and some of it he gathered from a crowd-sourcing (x) event on his Facebook page. A new-fangled way of getting material for his book.   Yes, I do look at prefaces and acknowledgements.   Even introductions. As you might suspect Jesus’ bad habits are determined bad only but some tha...