Free of Charge ~ are we cheerful givers?
Just read about this new book out of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. Sounds challenging (in a good way).
Here is an excerpt from the YCFC e-letter:
The director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture, Miroslav Volf, has a newly published book that may help take us beyond the “Happy Holidays” quandary to something deeper and more meaningful.
The book is called Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace (Zondervan, 2005). Free of Charge is an invitation to the Christian faith as a way of life, as seen through two everyday practices: giving and forgiving. Volf writes that in the face of our neediness, "we want God to be our heavenly Santa Claus” – to give us everything and demand nothing. It is true, Volf notes, “God is an inexhaustibly fertile source of everything” that comes our way. “But,” he continues, “is it true that God demands nothing?” In the face of all the holiday shopping and other pressures, we can rejoice that God gives – even the gift of Jesus – “so that we can become joyful givers and not simply self-absorbed receivers.”
Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, commissioned the book as “The Archbishop’s Official 2006 Lent Book.” In the foreword, Williams says Volf “offers us a unique interweaving of intense reflection, vivid and painfully personal stories, and sheer celebration of the giving God.” Perhaps this book will become a treasured part of your library and help you think afresh about giving and forgiving in a culture stripped of grace.
Here is an excerpt from the YCFC e-letter:
The director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture, Miroslav Volf, has a newly published book that may help take us beyond the “Happy Holidays” quandary to something deeper and more meaningful.
The book is called Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace (Zondervan, 2005). Free of Charge is an invitation to the Christian faith as a way of life, as seen through two everyday practices: giving and forgiving. Volf writes that in the face of our neediness, "we want God to be our heavenly Santa Claus” – to give us everything and demand nothing. It is true, Volf notes, “God is an inexhaustibly fertile source of everything” that comes our way. “But,” he continues, “is it true that God demands nothing?” In the face of all the holiday shopping and other pressures, we can rejoice that God gives – even the gift of Jesus – “so that we can become joyful givers and not simply self-absorbed receivers.”
Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, commissioned the book as “The Archbishop’s Official 2006 Lent Book.” In the foreword, Williams says Volf “offers us a unique interweaving of intense reflection, vivid and painfully personal stories, and sheer celebration of the giving God.” Perhaps this book will become a treasured part of your library and help you think afresh about giving and forgiving in a culture stripped of grace.
posted by Carol Soules at 7:21 PM
2 Comments:
Sounds like a cool book. I would like to read it.
better act more good then.... ;-)
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