Shofam’s Reviews > A Heart Aflame for God: A Reformed Approach to Spiritual Formation > Status Update
Shofam
is on page 87 of 368
This last half of chapter 2 focused mainly on union with Christ, which "takes a central place in Reformed theology because of the way it effectively solves the puzzle of precisely how justification and sanctification relate to each other." Also highlighted are 3 characteristics of a distinctively Reformed approach to spiritual formation: word centered, biblical simplicity, and engagement of the heart via the mind.
— May 30, 2026 05:53PM
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Shofam’s Previous Updates
Shofam
is on page 65 of 368
“The primary aim of this chapter is to retrieve, explore, and commend an approach to spiritual formation that is based on and congruent with the Reformation heritage out of which evangelicalism arose. And one of the key motivations behind that aim is a desire to counter a creeping sense among many evangelicals that our spiritual life can be a custom-made affair.”
— May 27, 2026 03:07PM
Shofam
is on page 50 of 368
The rest of this chapter dealt with the definition of spiritual formation as such: "Spiritual formation is the conscious process by which we seek to heighten and satisfy our Spirit-given thirst for God (Ps. 41:1-2) through divinely appointed means and with a view toward "work[ing] out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12) and becoming "mature in Christ" (Col. 1:28)."
— May 20, 2026 01:19PM
Shofam
is on page 34 of 368
This first part of chapter 1 deals with what it means to live the Christian life. Bingham first expounds upon the phrase "keeping the heart," found in Proverbs 4:23, a favorite of the English Puritans. He then gives a brief history of the term "spiritual formation" and explains why he has chosen to use it despite some of its shortcomings.
— May 12, 2026 01:52PM
Shofam
is on page 20 of 368
Intro lays out the book’s purpose: “to explore and commend a distinctively Reformed Protestant vision of Christian growth for twenty-first-century evangelicals”; gives a very brief overview of Reformation history; highlights four reasons to give the Puritans the detailed attention they receive; and explains what the book is and is not.
— May 11, 2026 02:20PM