Streams of Living Water: Celebrating the Great Traditions of Christian Faith

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Summary: A much needed guide to the richness of the Christian journey
Review: Streams of Living Water serves as the centerpiece of Richard J. Foster's recent work as director of the Renovare organization, which calls for Christians to come together through a celebration of the richness of their shared traditions. This book offers a vivid presentation of what Foster calls the various "streams" of the faith, explaining their essential characteristics, not in terms of theological dogmatics but as rich experiences within the Christian pilgrimmage. While every reader will find areas of disagreement or questions of priorities as their particular stream is described, that is part of the fun of the book. Most attempts at ecumenism have demanded a watering down of the strengths of the various traditions, in order to achieve a kind of lowest common denominator of faith. The beauty of Foster's work is that he achieves much more by encouraging each of us to celebrate the beauty of our own stream, and then to jump into the river of all God has for us.

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Summary: A Book for the Warp and Woof of The Christian Life
Review: We now live in a post-denominational world. Technology has moved us all into a global community. We find ourselves daily exposed to the rich cultures and perspectives of the world. Our provincial and limited expressions have expanded exponentially because of this. Today we have the freedom to draw from past and present traditions to shape and enrich our faith and world-view. People are more open to discussion and interaction than ever before. In keeping with this new reality, Richard Foster has done us a wonderful favor by applying this to our spirituality. No longer do we have to be limited to our own particular denomination or upbringing. We can keep our own spiritual background and identity, but also add on and incorportate different streams of Christian expression to enrich our approach to God and practice of faith. And so Foster paints a broad picture of the Christian faith for us to gaze upon. We don't have to take sides. Foster persuades us that the issue at hand is not either/or, but both/and. Like a mosaic each Christian can incorporate the living streams of the contempletive, holiness, social justice, evangelical, charismatic, and incarnational traditions to the "warp and woof" of life, as Foster likes to phrase it. This approach will make our lives into a unified, yet diverse work of art. He illustrates so clearly each "stream" by using historical examples of those who practiced each style particularly well. First he uses Biblical characters that emphasized each approach. Then he shows how Christ perfectly fulfilled each tradition of the faith. He clearly spells out the strong points and the dangers of each tradition. And finally Foster helps us put into practice each of them from his own perspective and experience. I appreciate how Foster has helped introduce church history to mainstream Christianity. However, some portions of his point by point explanations in the book get a bit tedious. But that must not stop us from drinking deep of this book. Foster shows how practicing a well-rounded faith will protect us from being prideful, narrow-minded, or falling into a spiritual rut. If we follow Foster's beckoning we will also be more unified as the body of Christ. Foster is right that our unity is one of the most powerful testimonies to the world that God is alive and well. This book has opened my eyes to areas of my faith that need to be cultivated more. Foster has inspired me to draw from the wells of the living streams of Christian expression throughout the ages and nations. Any serious 21st century believer should slake his or her spiritual thirst with "Streams of Living Water" by Richard Foster.