Practicing Our Faith: A Way of Life for a Searching People

Praise for the Second Edition of Practicing Our Faith "Practicing Our Faith is more than a book; it outlines a movement—God′s movement—that is both as old as Abraham and as new as today′s emerging Christianity. Here is a way to live the abundant life that is good news for our neighbors, sweet rest for our souls, and hope for a church too long fragmented by division. Like the preachers of the last great awakening, I want to shout, ′Get on board!′" —Jonathan Wilson–Hartgrove, new monastic, author, speaker (www.jonathanwilsonhartgrove.com) Praise for the First Edition of Practicing Our Faith "Deceptively simple and down–to–earth, these authors provide potent surprises. Dorothy Bass′s observation that ′slaves cannot take a day off but free people can′ startled me into a new comprehension of the workaholism that permeates American culture. Practicing Our Faith strikes me as a book as wise as grandparents, a good guide to living within our families and communities with integrity and generosity." —Kathleen Norris, author of The Cloister Walk and Acedia and Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer′s Life "Practicing Our Faith is a book written by a remarkable community of people—remarkable not only because it includes some of the most insightful Christian voices of our time, but because its members prayed and talked and worked together to create this volume, modeling the way the church is meant to do its work. . . . Practicing Our Faith is a book that should be widely read, and more: it should be put into action." —Parker Palmer, author of A Hidden Wholeness, Let Your Life Speak, and The Courage to Teach Visit www.practicingourfaith.org for more information and resources on the Practices of Faith.

Preface to the 1997 edition. Chapter 1 Times of Yearning, Practices of Faith (Craig Dykstra and Dorothy C. Bass). Chapter 2 Honoring the Body (Stephanie Paulsell). Chapter 3 Hospitality (Ana Maria Pineda). Chapter 4 Household Economics (Sharon Daloz Parks). Chapter 5 Saying Yes and Saying No (M. Shawn Copeland). Chapter 6 Keeping Sabbath (Dorothy C. Bass). Chapter 7 Testimony (Thomas Hoyt Jr.). Chapter 8 Discernment (Frank Rogers Jr.). Chapter 9 Shaping Communities (Larry Rasmussen). Chapter 10 Forgiveness (L. Gregory Jones). Chapter 11 Healing (John Koenig). Chapter 12 Dying Well (Amy Plantinga Pauw). Chapter 13 Singing Our Lives (Don E. Saliers). Chapter 14 Practicing a Way of Life (Dorothy C. Bass and Craig Dykstra). Chapter 15 A Way of Thinking about a Way of Life (Craig Dykstra and Dorothy C. Bass). References. Index of Scripture References. The Contributors. Conversation Guide. Index.

Dorothy C. Bass is a writer, noted church historian, and director of the Valparaiso Project on the Education and Formation of People in Faith.