Review: Seeking God: Finding Another Kind of Life with St. Ignatius and Dallas Willard
Seeking God: Finding Another Kind of Life with St. Ignatius and Dallas Willard by Trevor Hudson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A practical guide to finding and living the [zoe] life that God wants for us. What we find within are the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola (founder of the Jesuits) as they are applied by Trevor Hudson (a protestant minister) who learned them from Fr Andrew Norton (an Anglican Monk) and mapped them to every day living with the help of American philosopher Dallas Willard. Truly a fascinating mix.
The book opens with an introduction to the two “Seekers” (Ignatius and Willard) that will illustrate what we should seek and how to seek it. Each chapter ends with an example prayer and notations. For chapters with practical applications details for the reader, there is also specific “Seeking Exercises” to put the concept into practice and to develop the appropriate habits. In my opinion, it was these exercises that made this work exceptional.
For the most part, I doubt any believer who has answered the call to discipleship will find much that is new in the basic admonition to repent (although there is a brief examination of the term linking the concept to a change in direction in chapter 3), how to properly align/order our deepest desires (Chapters 4 and 6) and how to be “God’s compassionate image bearer” within a fallen world (chapters 7 and 8); however, the author’s analysis and use of personal experience resonated with me more than many of the many inspirational and devotional works that I have encountered in the recent past. In addition, chapter 5 presented a new way (for me) of looking at “The Gospel Way of Discipleship” divided into three elements: “The Way of Information”, “The Way of Inspiration” and “The Way of Interaction.”
I was given this free advance review copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#SeeingGod #NetGalley
View all my reviews
A practical guide to finding and living the [zoe] life that God wants for us. What we find within are the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola (founder of the Jesuits) as they are applied by Trevor Hudson (a protestant minister) who learned them from Fr Andrew Norton (an Anglican Monk) and mapped them to every day living with the help of American philosopher Dallas Willard. Truly a fascinating mix.
The book opens with an introduction to the two “Seekers” (Ignatius and Willard) that will illustrate what we should seek and how to seek it. Each chapter ends with an example prayer and notations. For chapters with practical applications details for the reader, there is also specific “Seeking Exercises” to put the concept into practice and to develop the appropriate habits. In my opinion, it was these exercises that made this work exceptional.
For the most part, I doubt any believer who has answered the call to discipleship will find much that is new in the basic admonition to repent (although there is a brief examination of the term linking the concept to a change in direction in chapter 3), how to properly align/order our deepest desires (Chapters 4 and 6) and how to be “God’s compassionate image bearer” within a fallen world (chapters 7 and 8); however, the author’s analysis and use of personal experience resonated with me more than many of the many inspirational and devotional works that I have encountered in the recent past. In addition, chapter 5 presented a new way (for me) of looking at “The Gospel Way of Discipleship” divided into three elements: “The Way of Information”, “The Way of Inspiration” and “The Way of Interaction.”
Chapter 1: Becoming a Seeker
Chapter 2: Seeking the Life God Gives
Chapter 3: Changing Direction
Chapter 4: Discerning Our Deepest Desires
Chapter 5: Exploring Life’s Greatest Opportunity
Chapter 6: Dying to Live
Chapter 7: Experiencing Resurrection Joy
Chapter 8: Finding God in All Things
I was given this free advance review copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#SeeingGod #NetGalley
View all my reviews
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