Devotional Classics: Selected Readings for Individuals and Groups

In our men's bible study, we have been going through several of the selections. It is definitely a thought provoking as we see how God uses other people's greatest contribution to Christendom to give inspiration and challenge to our modern day world. This is not cursory reading by any means. If you are looking for something that goes beyond the easy Sunday school answer, this is a great book for you. Many of our participants are avid readers and consider this book a great addition to their theological collection as well.

This is a compilation of spiritual food from some of the devotional masters of the past 2000 years. These are men and women who walked with God, whose meditations probed with awe the depths of God. Foster has collected some of the best of these meditations and organized them. This is a book that can be read and reread. It will be a treasure for years.

This is an excellent book for several reasons. First, it is a wonderful collection of 52 different devotional Christian writers from the second century to today. Second, for anyone interested in developing spiritual disciplines the exercises at the end of each chapter are excellent launching pads. Additionally, the book gives succinct biogaphical information about each writer, lending some insight into the readings themselves. And finally, each chapter ends with a brief review of and information on the availability of that writer's works.

I have been giving this book as a gift to as many people as I can. It is a welcome respite from the devotional books found in most Christian bookstores, whose owners seem to think that nothing of worth was written between the Bible and C.S. Lewis' conversion. As someone raised thoroughly Protestant, I have enjoyed not only an introduction to the more devotion-oriented writings of the great Protestant heavies (Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Edwards, Kierkegaard, Lewis, Bonhoeffer, et al.), and of the best-known pre-Reformation writers (Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, John Chrysostom, Benedict, St. Bernard, St. Francis, Julian, a Kempis), but also an introduction to the great post-Reformation Catholic writers, either unknown or ignored in most evangelical literature. Writers such as Catherine of Genoa, Brother Lawrence, de Sales, de Caussade, Grou, Fenelon, Pascal, John of the Cross, Merton, and Nouwen have won a special place in my heart, having introduced me to the merits and v! arieties of Catholic traditions. I assume and hope that Catholic readers will have the same experience reading such Protestants as Bunyon, Taylor, Fox, Woolman, Spurgeon, Laubach, and Kelly, to name just a few. The benefits of learning devotion from both traditions have been marvelous -- I feel that my connection to the Church is now based on the full 2,000 years of tradition and testimony. Now when I peruse Christian bookstores, I no longer feel pressured to keep up with the latest additions to the authorial market -- I have plenty of time-tested teachers to read, and re-read, and re-read yet again....