Celebration of Discipline

by Richard J. Foster

In addition to studying the Bible, do not neglect the study of some of the experiential classics in Christian literature. Begin with The Confessions of St. Augustine. Next turn to The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. Don’t neglect The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. For an added pleasure read The Little Flowers of St. Francis by Brother Ugolino. Perhaps you might want something a bit heavier next like the Pensées of Blaise Pascal. Enjoy the Table Talks of Martin Luther before you wade into Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. Consider reading the pacemaker of religious journal writing, The Journal of George Fox, or perhaps the better-known Journal of John Wesley. Read carefully William Law’s A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life; its words carry a contemporary ring. From the twentieth century read A Testament of Devotion by Thomas Kelly, The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis.