Not THAT book!

Okay, so I probably shouldn't have. Every once in a while I get curious and go browsing on the sites of some local churches my friends and rellies attend. And so here I was nicely looking at the interesting books and things being read by the pastors of the big church in town, when what to my wondering eyes did appear...one of their associate pastors is currently reading a book by Ruth Haley Barton of the Transforming Center(www.thetransformingcenter.org)! Oh no, not THAT book, said I to my inner self, doesn't this pastor know better?

The name of the book is Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership by Ruth Haley Barton, in which the very contemplative Leighton Ford (author of The Attentive Life) has written the glowing foreword (from none other than the Rock Hill Oratory, the retreat center where he regularly goes for a sacred place of listening or being still by the pebbled labyrinth prayer walk). He highly recommends the book and praises Ruth Haley Barton’s experience of the inner journey.

Throughout the book, aside from the usual references to the infamous silence that contemplatives talk so much about, Ruth Haley Barton includes the usual quotes about the usual things from the usual favourites (i.e. Henri Nouwen, Parker Palmer, Ignatius of Loyola, and a Gerald May lecture at the ecumenical, contemplative Shalem Institute in 1998, etc.). And amidst all that, she has the audacity to write:

It is especially important for leaders to cultivate the ability to “discern the spirits” or “test the spirits to see whether they are from God”…A leader who is committed to paying attention at this level devel0ps a mature capacity for discernment that helps him or her distinguish the real from the phony, the true from the false, in the world “out there” but also in the interior world of thoughts and motives. p 67

Isn't it rather ironic for a supposedly Christian author to talk about discerning the spirits and distinguishing the true from the false when in the very next paragraph she writes about Ignatius of Loyola, and her most authentic self? What kind of 'discernment' is that? And if an author has no discernment about such things, what might be said of her readers? Why any Christian evangelical leader would choose such a book to read in this age of information is beyond me, unless it is for discernment purposes in order to warn his church. I can only hope this is the case, although there was no indication of that. But then, I suppose we should expect to see more pastors reading such a book if they belong to any Willowcreeked church (as so many are now), especially since The Leadership Centre of Willlow Creek Canada is featuring this same Ruth Haley Barton book this month at 25% off.

Once again, it's a sign of the times, as Christians are increasingly spending more time reading books than The Book.

Further info:

Ruth Haley Barton and Contemplative Prayer
www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com

*Disclaimer: Unless otherwise stated, the views expressed on this blog are the personal opinions, rantings, and meanderings of this blogger.