Devotional Classics

It’s time for an update on what I’m reading. But first, let me give you a little backstory…Five years ago, a few months after I’d moved here to Madrid, I asked my FB group (Rainey Days in Spain) for devotional recommendations for the coming year (2015), and I got SO MANY suggestions that I’m STILL not done with the list.

This book, Devotional Classics (edited by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith) is an anthology of the best Christian writing from 2000 years of Christendom, from preachers to monks to Early Church fathers. Each chapter contains selected writings by one author, usually no more than four or five pages. Since there are 52 chapters divided into “traditions” (i.e. evangelical, charismatic), I’ve chosen to read a chapter each Sunday, when I take a break from my weekly devotional reading. At the end of the excerpts is a Scripture passage that corresponds, followed by 5 reflection questions and then 4 or 5 practical exercises. These are suitable for individuals, or even for Bible Study groups to do together each week. I like that I can do the practices throughout the week to enforce what I read on Sunday.

It’s certainly offered me the chance to know different Christian thinkers (this week was John Calvin) and even read excerpts from names I knew but had never read before. And each week it challenges me with deep questions of faith and Christian practice. I’m really thankful for the book and the exposure to new writing and authors.