celebration of discipline by richard j foster

I don’t think I am overstating it when I say that up to this point Foster looks at “meditation” as something special for its own sake. He has sent the Holy Spirit to make known to us our Mediator, Jesus Christ, as we meditate on the objective Scriptures. The Scriptures reveal to us just exactly how it is that Jesus Christ is our Mediator. Up to this point Foster hasn’t made mention of the fact that HIS mediation for us is known to us because we meditate upon the objective Holy Scriptures. It is HIS mediation that allows us to be priests. It is true that if we are in Christ we are all priests unto God, but it is ONLY because HE is our perfect High Priest, Himself. Foster downplays the role of a Mediator yet “boldly calls us to enter into the living presence of God for ourselves.” Of course Jesus Christ is our only mediator in the New Covenant.

If you have read the Old Testament, you know that it is detailed instruction. Through Moses, God gave the priests instruction on how they should function as priest, the nature of the mediation, and the function of the High Priest and the nature of that mediation. This is most unfortunate because Moses was the Mediator and God spoke to him. In this section, he says that we abrogate our role as priests and he sights the Old Testament and specifically the people of Israel and Moses as examples. (We are soon to find out what his “Christian” type of meditation involves.)įoster’s second sub-heading is Desiring the Living Voice of God. These would include Francois Fenelon, Madame Guyon, Francis de Sales, George Fox, and Meister Eckhart and favorably quotes Morton Kelsey.) He says there is a vast difference between “Christian” meditation and Eastern meditation. In this section he exalts Catholic mystics and others. The first sub-heading is Understandable Misconceptions. Under this introductory title, Foster favorably quotes both Thomas Merton and C.G. The second chapter is titled The Discipline of Meditation. What? (See Acts 4:12) One can only wonder how it is possible to long after the true and living God without first coming to Christ. The first chapter of Celebration of Discipline is titled The Spiritual Disciplines: Door to Liberation. Richard Foster states that the purpose of spiritual disciplines are “to explore the inner caverns of the spiritual realm.” Have you ever seen in the Holy Scripture where this is to be the goal of the Christian life?įoster continues by saying that even people who are not Christian should practice spiritual disciplines because the only requirement is a longing after God.

Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth

Celebration of discipline by richard j foster