Stephen Barkley
Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline is one of those rare book that I’ve read more than once. I discovered it in the Bible College book store when I was fresh out of high school and have returned to it many times in my personal and pastoral life. This is going to sound bold, but I believe accurate: The Deeply Formed Life is Celebration of Discipline for this generation.
It’s not that the spiritual practices have changed. Rather, they are re-framed and reweighed to connect with the transformative needs of people living in a more urban, post-9/11, technological world.
Rich Villodas categorizes some twenty-four practices under the rubric of five values:
- Contemplative Rhythms for an Exhausted Life
- Racial Reconciliation for a Divided World
- Interior Examination for a World Living on the Surface
- Sexual Wholeness for a Culture That Splits Bodies from Souls
- Missional Presence in a Distracted and Disengaged World
Each of these values spans two chapters: an educational chapter that lays the foundation for the value and a more practical chapter that introduces specific habits and practices.
This book is profoundly simple. While Villodas’ teaching demonstrates a solid academic foundation, he never unnecessarily obfuscates the message. (Did you see what I did there?)
The Deeply Formed Life is the sort of book I’d like to place in the hands of young adults everywhere. Villodas urges his readers to avoid shallow living and live integrated, rich, and deeply formed lives.
Villodas, Rich. The Deeply Formed Life: Five Transformative Values to Root Us in the Way of Jesus. Waterbrook, 2020.
