Shape of Living, The: Spiritual Directions for Everyday Life

by David F. Ford

In our culture of distraction it can be hard to focus on spiritual matters. Work, finances, and uncertain futures are just a few things that overwhelm us daily. Discover how to overcome and develop an everyday spirituality that will guide your actions and bring meaning to your hectic life.

"Ford provides a way beyond distraction to joy and buoyancy."--Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary

"Amidst the glut of books on the devotional life that seek to be relevant and are only contemporary, this book is already a classic on the 'spirituality of everyday life.' I could hardly put it down."--Ray Anderson, Fuller Theological Seminary

"A wise book that concentrates on the principle aspects of our lives that we so often get wrong because we lack wisdom."--Stanley Hauerwas, Duke Divinity School

"Offers far greater wealth than even several readings can probe."--Books & Culture

"Profound and reflective . . . yet always concrete, and never dishonest or evasive. A jewel of the spiritual life in its everyday manifestations."--Nicholas Wolterstorff, Yale Divinity School

"These reflections ought to be read by laity and clergy alike, for they offer the spiritual renewal we desperately need."--L. Gregory Jones, Duke University Divinity School

"The Shape of Living is like a friend's invitation to a dinner at which you encounter some unexpected guests and hope for some life-shaping consequence. By all means, accept."--The Christian Century

David F. Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University, is the author and editor of many books, including Reading Texts, Seeking Wisdom

Genres: Spirituality, Christian, Christian Living, Theology, Religion, Christianity

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

David Frank Ford (born 23 January 1948, Dublin) is an academic and public theologian. He has been the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge since 1991. His research interests include political theology, ecumenical theology, Christian theologians and theologies, theology and poetry, the shaping of universities and of the field of theology and religious studies within universities, hermeneutics, and inter-faith theology and relations. He is the founding director of the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme and a co-founder of the Society for Scriptural Reasoning.

Reviews

[Thomas Estes · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first interaction with the work of David Ford did not disappoint. “The Shape of Living” is a careful exploration of the whole “ecology of life,” by turns profoundly wise and mundanely practical. Ford is a careful thinker attuned to the polarities and interrelations of personhood and community, freedom and responsibility, relationship and solitude, suffering and joy. In a world of “multiple overwhelmings,” he suggests that we live in a way that lets one of them be the overwhelming that shapes the others. Toward this end, his vision is rooted in and resourced by the Christian tradition but open to and appreciative of the “otherness” of his neighbors who make life so transformative and rich.

A particular delight is the attention given to the poetry of Ford’s friend Micheal O’Siadhail. Halfway through the book, I paused to order O’Siadhail’s collected poems, and I expect he will quickly become one of my favorites.

[Krista]

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[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Shape of Living begins slowly, talking of overwhelmings and quoting poetry, not sounding anything like evangelical self-help literature. Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, is interested in the love of God (for us and in us) and vocation. Vocation is not career or narrow calling, but the long-term shaping of our desires and how it forms our lives. A really fine book that makes the familiar discussion of Christian's disciplines and habits established in daily life both strange and absolutely appealing.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Ford deals with the reality of being overwhelmed. We usually try to think of how to avoid being overwhelmed; this book takes for granted that we'll be overwhelmed by both the positive and the negative. Ford primarily uses an interplay between the Bible and the poetry of Micheal O'Siadhail along with other resouces and his own experiences to give us a sense of how to live a life that's constantly being overwhelmed by something - and often by many things simultaneously.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book at my local university library and I thought it might be an interesting read. I admit it left me a little flat, not so much because it is wrong, but, for some reason, it just didn't grab me. Ford interweaves good spiritual practice with poetry, but it felt a little impersonal to me. I'm not sure if that is just where I was at the moment or whether it was feeling a bit cerebral.

Still, this is a sound book and, for those who love poetry better than I, an evocative one.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

haven't read it all but some of my favorite quotes are from this book. the quotes were in Susan Howatch's Starbridge series - which are my favorites!!

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a winsome, profound book of Christian spiritual formation written by a Cambridge theology professor and pastor.

[Joseph Gascho]

A top ten, a wow book