A Fresh Look at the Spiritual Disciplines

Fri, 08/12/2016 - 6:49pm by mansii

If you have ever been curious about what the spiritual disciplines of the Christian faith are, or how to begin them, Out of the House of Bread by Preston Yancey provides a fresh and accessible approach to these time-honored practices. As the title suggests, each chapter discusses both a spiritual discipline and an aspect of baking bread, drawing analogy between the two.

This book is especially helpful as an introduction because it is extremely practical. Yancey reflects on the meaning and theory behind each practice, but then gives step by step instructions on how to implement one for that week. Similarly with baking, Yancey uses the theory of bread-making to illustrate the meaning of a discipline, but then assigns you to literally bake a loaf each week, with instructions that build upon one another in making each loaf better.

For those practiced in the spiritual disciplines already, Yancey's discussion leads away from the rote application of them by habit, and instead presses in to deepening the "why" and understanding the beauty of them. Yancey draws from the Benedictine model, with several chapters addressing disciplines that might first come to mind: confession, scripture reading, intercessory prayer, and fasting. Yet the other chapters may surprise you, contemplating feasting, wonder, remembrance, and rootedness. These all tie together under the perspective of seeing the world as a sacred place where God draws near. The spiritual disciplines seek to attune us to recognizing this sacredness.

These practices unite theological strains from Quakers to Catholics and monks, from Anglicans to the Emerging Church. Click here for a list of books related to the spiritual disciplines from all of these perspectives.