Exercises In Religious Understanding

Spiritual Exercises for Church Leaders grows out of the Church Leadership Program of the Woodstock Theological Center where a systematic approach to the development of authentic leadership was designed and field tested in a number of settings. The process begins with a focus on gratitude, the foundation of spiritual growth, and then moves through the steps needed for authentic leadership. Being attentive and intelligent, being discerning and responsible: These are the steps that lead to conversion, and ultimately to authenticity. The process is based on the spiritual insights of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the theological method of Bernard Lonergan, S.J., and scripture. In particular, passages from the Acts of the Apostles show how leadership developed in the early Church, and how we can learn from that experience. Other disciplines -- the arts, history, and sociology -- together with reflective exercises are resources for understanding how change occurs, how culture impacts our religious understanding, and how creative solutions to contemporary problems can be fostered. Book jacket.

What does it mean to understand the world religiously? How is such understanding to be distinguished from scientific understanding? What does it have to do with religious practice, transfiguring love, and spiritual well-being? New Models of Religious Understanding investigates these questions to set a new and exciting agenda for philosophy of religion. Featuring contributions from leading scholars in the field, the volume cuts across the supposed divide between analytic and continental approaches to the subject and engages the interest of a broad range of philosophical and theological readers.

The Christian life is built on three seemingly unremarkable practices: reading the Bible, prayer, and fellowship with other believers. However, according to David Mathis, such “habits of grace” are the God-designed channels through which his glorious grace flows—making them life-giving practices for all Christians. Whether it’s hearing God’s voice (the Word), having his ear (prayer), or participating in his body (fellowship), such spiritual rhythms of the Christian life have the power to awaken our souls to God’s glory and stir our hearts for lifelong service in his name. What’s more, these seemingly simple practices grant us access to a host of spiritual blessings that we can only begin to imagine this side of eternity—and the incredible joy that such blessings bring to God’s children today.

A reissue of a classic Christian text from the founder of the Jesuit Order. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyla is the core work of religious formation for members of the Society of Jesus, the single largest religious order within the Roman Catholic Church. For four and a half centuries in many thousands of editions in all languages, The Exercises have embodied fundamental spiritual principles essential to authentic Christian living. The mystical insight informing Ignatius's own relationship with God—which he distilled in The Exercises—is that the divine love of God is providentially present in all the details of our existence. Here Ignatius shows how the faithful can be joined to God in all things, according to the Jesuit motto, Ad majorem Dei gloriam, "For the greater glory of God."

Protestant Spiritual Exercises

Becoming Religious is a contemporary investigation of a classical question in the scientific study of religion -- why religion? Why do people devote themselves to unseen, mysterious powers and goals? An answer is proposed from the religious biographies of contemporary South Georgians from all walks of life. Relevant theories from across the subdisciplines of religious studies are marshaled to explain how personal religious commitment emerges and grows.

This book contains 78 insightful reflections on God, His ways, and other aspects of the Christian life. Each meditation encourages the practice of self-examination and prayer, and stimulates us to a more diligent examination of God's Word.