Rating: 
Summary: Buy it. Do it.
Review: Foster has done an excellent job of explaining the spiritual disciplines of the Christian faith without being too deep for the layman. This is a book that explains in some detail without overloading the reader, and gives the reader the excitement and the means of actually putting these celebrations into practice. Now, it's not as simple as "read and do." Discipline is not easy all the time; but it's always worth it. Knowing how to start and what to do is foundational to winning the battle over the flesh. And Foster provides what you need. Actually going through with it, well, that depends on how much you want to see God more intimately and have your life transformed more and more according to Rom. 8:29 and 2 Peter 1:1 - 4. Do you want to experience what Peter calls "partaking of the divine nature" (partaking, not becoming divine)? Then it takes discipline with the intent to know God more. Read what Peter says and you'll see just how important the disciplines are to have what Peter says is available to every believer.The only downside I see to this work is that the chapter on confession goes even further than Roman Catholicism in granting the power to forgive. Only God can forgive; the Catholic church grants this right to the members of it's magesterium (which I do not see in scripture). But Foster seems to grant the actual power to remit the sins of others to ANY Christian. So read this chapter with an understanding that adjustments need to be made to make it more biblical. He provides many good points, but this one goes too far. If it was not his intent to say this, then it's just written poorly and one still needs to be careful.
Rating:
Summary: A True Celebration
Review: _Celebration of Discipline_ is one of the finest Christian books of our time. I read it as an "assignment" with a men's study group, and at first, was a bit ambivalent about this ethereal-sounding spiritual book from a Quaker. I began it reluctantly, but shortly realized that what I was reading was solid, no-holds barred steps towards maturity in Christ, through discipleship and productive living. Foster speaks of the "inward disciplines" the "outward disciplines" and the "corporate disciplines" of the Christian life. As I flip through the book, I find myself in need of a tune-up. It's that kind of book. It's one that you'll never master, but the joy is in the journey, and in following the Savior with the full passion of your heart. He's calling us to the life of Discipline and discipleship, not to a willy-nilly external Christianity. _Celebration_ is a breath of fresh air in an era of "easy believism" and cheap grace. Foster has touched a generation of believers with this timeless classic.
Rating: 
Summary: Spiritual Growth / Easy to Understand
Review: The topic of the disciplines, e.g. fasting, praying, etc, is not an easy, quick fix topic like most the christian literature littering our bookstores today. Foster draws on centuries of tradition to form this wonderful book on spiritual development through the use of the disciplines. These are time honored techniques that will push you spiritually to deepen your relationship with God. This book is a great read for anyone who wants to go deeper in their faith and be pushed out of their comfort zone. Joseph Dworak
Rating:
Summary: Even More of a Classic After the Second Reading!!
Review: I just finished reading Richard Foster's "Celebration of Discipline" for the second time. I read it many years ago in seminary, but wanted to refresh my memory with its principles. I am so glad I did! Twenty years later, Foster still offers a superb work here that focuses on the devotional life of the believer. This book is divided into three sections: the inward Disciplines, the outward Disciplines, and the corporate Disciplines. Foster acknowledges that God is the author of all spiritual growth, but indicates that the Disciplines help us position ourselves so that the growth will more easily occur. He says, "God has given us the Disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving his grace. The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us" (page 7). This book is a true classic, and should be a part of every Christian's library. I cannot recommend it highly enough. If you want to grow deeper and stronger in Christ, then you definitely want to buy it!
Rating: 
Summary: Helpful, but some dangerous theology ...
Review: There is certainly some wisdom in this book. I first read Celebration of Discipline a number of years ago and was challenged in every facet of my spiritual walk. The spiritual disciplines are too often ignored in the church today, and Foster is right in reemphasizing them. Still, I have some serious reservations about this book. There are several places in which he seems to argue for open theism (or something that very much resembles open theism). In short, this is the proposition that God doesn't know the future, and that He can change his mind in response to the prayers and petitions of human beings. This might seem very pious, but it is clearly unscriptural. See, for example, Numbers 23:19: "God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?"; Malachi 3:6 "For I, the Lord, do not change"; or Psalm 139:16 where David says to God "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.' Open theism is inconsistent with the Scripture, and traditional Christian theology. If you choose to read and use Foster's book, do it with discernment. There is some helpful advice, but also some false teaching.
Rating:
Summary: Even More of a Classic After the Second Reading!!
Review: I just finished reading Richard Foster's "Celebration of Discipline" for the second time. I read it many years ago in seminary, but wanted to refresh my memory with its principles. I am so glad I did! Twenty years later, Foster still offers a superb work here that focuses on the devotional life of the believer. This book is divided into three sections: the inward Disciplines, the outward Disciplines, and the corporate Disciplines. Foster acknowledges that God is the author of all spiritual growth, but indicates that the Disciplines help us position ourselves so that the growth will more easily occur. He says, "God has given us the Disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving his grace. The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us" (page 7). This book is a true classic, and should be a part of every Christian's library. I cannot recommend it highly enough. If you want to grow deeper and stronger in Christ, then you definitely want to buy it!
Rating:
Summary: Balance in Christian Thinking Is Elusive
Review: Richard Foster's work inspirationally motivates the reader to consider disciplines as a means to draw into a closer relationship with God. In an age of overwhelming materialism, rationalized Church teachings, and reflexively dogmatic positions works dealing directly with the spiritual are rightly greeted with a genuine sense of joy and enthusiasm. A continual distraction throughout the work, however is Foster's highly assertive style. The tendency reveals itself in implicit assertions that the disciplines are in and of themselves inherently good and that their purposes are self-realized or attained experientially. If the chapter on fasting is considered, it is difficult or impossible to find a thesis for the purpose of fasting. If the chapter on prayer is considered, "personal prayer" and "prayer for others" are categorized separately; the thought is then asserted that it is appropriate to pray for ourselves in the terms, "if it be thy will" but not appropriate to do so for others. In the end, Foster's work is rightly seen as a source of strong encouragement - a conversation with a knowledgeable friend sharing thoughts and experiences. It does this well. However, it should be looked at with a more critical eye, if regarded as a source of teaching. Many assertions and ideas are left unsubstantiated and may be misleading, misguided, or wrong.
Rating:
Summary: The Book that Spawned a Genre
Review: I don't know how to encourage you to purchase this book. Look at the reviews. With the exception of one or two unusual reviews that speak for themselves, notice how overwhelmingly popular this book is. It really is a classic. Originally written in the 70's, newer versions have been updated slightly to adjust to our changing culture. MANY newer books were written upon the foundation laid in this work. Any Christian's personal library is incomplete without it.
Rating:
Summary: A Book Through Which To Grow
Review: As with one of the other reviewers published on this site, I read Foster's book in the process of converting to Catholicism. In the Catholic Church I have found the fullness of the depth of which Foster attempts to elucidate. I found this book to be a refreshing return to the wisdom of early Christians whose lives were dedicated to growing in their faith. It whet my appetite for a return to the wisdom of the early Church, which was very familiar with Foster's thesis. This is not a book of banal platitudes so often found in popular Christian literature. Rather, it is an intense, spiritually practical book which will put you on the road to a deeper relationship with the Lord.
For those who say Foster relies on human writers/opinions instead of Scripture, not only are they wrong, but show their ignorance as to how God works...through men. The canon of Scripture was defined by the Catholic Church in the late 4th century at the Councils of Hippo and Carthage. If we had not listened to them and submitted to their authority (given them by God), there would be no Scripture. I do not hold Foster to be on the same level with the Councils of Church history, but to say we shouldn't listen to the opinion of men is ridiculous. You might as well do away with sermons and theologians. Many men and women throughout history have offered beautiful insights into the Faith. Foster is merely doing his part. If you like Foster, you should look into the writings of some of the early Church Fathers and other saints throughout history.
Rating:
Summary: Faith without works is dead
Review: As a former evangelical Christian who is in the process of converting to Catholicism, I believe that Richard Foster's disciplines perfectly define the writing of James 2:26 - "...faith without works is dead." Foster's disciplines are the "works," service (or good works) being only one of them. I for one plan to practice the disciplines, and I'm not worried that I will be steered into new age mysticism. I am convinced that I will draw closer to Christ. This is a wonderful book, based fully on the practices of Jesus and his disciples during the time of Jesus' ministry here on Earth. Naysayers are guilty of the very malpractice that Foster cautions against - that of legalism and regarding the practice of the disciplines as the end in of themselves, rather than as a means of placing ourselves nearer to the presence of God. One of Foster's detractors says that Foster relies on the opinions and practices of men, rather than relying on Scripture - yet on almost every page, Foster quotes Scripture and interprets its meaning in the context of the disciplines. As another (favorable) reviewer mentions, Foster not only analyzes the various disciplines, he provides practical advice for putting them into practice so that novices are not overwhelmed at first. I find no fault in Foster's ideas about meditation - he keeps focused squarely on listening to God and His will for us. One evangelical Christian church I used to attend defined meditation as listening to God, while praying is speaking to God. Foster does not deviate from that definition.
I am amazed that Foster draws on so many sources for his writing. I would not have expected a Quaker to be so well versed in the writings of the early Church fathers. There will always be Christians who cannot see beyond their narrow interpretation of Scripture and who don't understand that their beliefs are also based on the interpretation of men who broke away from the Catholic Church.
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