The Sacred Way: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Life

by Tony Jones

Book Overview

Broaden your spiritual horizons. How has spirituality changed in the last 500, 1,000, or even 2,000 years? How can ancient approaches to faith help my relationship with God today? In The Sacred Way, popular author and speaker Tony Jones mines the rich history of 16 spiritual disciplines that have flourished throughout the ages and offers practical tips for implementing them in your daily life. Find encouragement and challenge through time-tested...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0310258103
• ISBN13: 9780310258100
• Release Date: February 2005
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Length: 222 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.8" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up

Customer Reviews

Tired of winging it?

Buy the book! I've had it for over a year and keep referring back to it. It seems that people are tired of "winging" their spiritual lives and are now reaching back to the ancient practices of christian spirituality. If you feel like your winging it, but this book.

Very helpful survey of spiritual practices

The Sacred Way offers a helpful survey of the practices of the spiritual life. I like how Jones categorizes the practices into contemplative approaches to spritiuality including such practices as silence and solitude, sacred reading, centering prayer, meditation, the Daily Office and spiritual direction; and bodily approaches to spiritually with such things as fasting, service, stations of the Cross, sabbath and utilizing the Labyrinth. As you can tell from the few disciplines mentioned that the survey includes spiritual practices from the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant church. Each chapter, which deals with one spritual practice, inlcudes an opening anecdote, a section on the history of the practice, a short piece on the theology of the practice, and a final section with general guidelines for the practice of each discipline. Jones also provides a very helpful list of book and web resources for further study with each of the practices. I think Jones' book is very applicable for incorporating spiritual practices in everyday life, especially important for those with a missional mindset where the desire to see the church "go and be" rather than "come and see" is presented.

A great primer for spiritual practice

This book was originally published under the title "Soul Shaper," and was intended as a training manual for youth ministers. But the book has just as much, if not more, to offer busy adults looking for ways to practice Christian spirituality. Each chapter offers a highly-readable, yet remarkably detailed survey of the techniques, theology, and history of a particular form of prayer, meditation, or devotion. Jones manages to present his instructions in a casual "how-to" format without cheapening the spiritual topics he discusses or reducing the book to a silly "mysticism for dummies" manual. That's no small accomplishment. Lisa Hill, the one negative reviewer on this site, points out that this material may be controversial. Many of the spiritual practices discussed in the book have their roots in medieval Catholic and Eastern Orthodox spiritual disciplines. Those raised in fundamentalist Baptist or evangelical Calvinist churches, where spirituality is considered to be primarily an intellectual endevour where one studies the Bible and attempts to deduce its teachings through rational analysis, might find the type of spirituality described in this book to be strange. Those in mainline churches will probably be much more comfortable with this book. It will be interesting to see if the revival of interest in Christian mysticism evident in the "emerging church" movement becomes anything more than a brief fad.

A soon-to-be classic for the contemporary Christian mystic

Essentially a reprint of his earlier work, Soul Shaper, Tony Jones spells out the essentials of modern Christian mysticism for the busy person. All the chapters are detailed, yet not overly crowded. He tells you things you might find only in such places as the Philokalia. You can tell he is much more than an observer, but an actual practitioner. Christianity desperately needs to remember its mystical heritage. Most of the great early Church Fathers were mystics. They knew not to separate spirituality from theology. Buy this book to learn about the contemporary way to practice time-proven ways of being "in Christ," not just following Him.

Great read for all spiritual seekers.

As observers of contemporary culture are keenly aware, the quest for spirituality is everywhere. Supernatural themes in movies, television dramas and talk shows like Oprah, best selling fiction and numerous popular websites reveal that we are on a quest to get in touch with something bigger than ourselves. While many proclaimed Christians shy away from these discussions as being too "New Age," "Pagan," or even Anti-Christian, Tony Jones offers a refreshing alternative. As one who is deeply committed to the historic Christian faith, the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and a deep appreciation for the Church, Tony presents a compelling case that those seeking for deep spiritual meaning in everyday life need look no further than Christianity. The Sacred Way introduces its readers to the Christian roots of many spiritual disciplines and practices that have shaped the faith of Jesus Christ's followers for over 2000 years. Tony does not back down from the claims from some conservative Protestants that these practices are unorthodox. Instead, with the heart of a pastor, he examines the rich history and deep theology that has surrounded these disciplines as they have developed over the centuries. After laying down these foundations he gently invites the reader to explore them within the comfort levels of their own traditions. No doubt, many readers will learn a lot about their own traditions that surprise them. And this may be one of the biggest strengths of the book. It is only when we understand where we come from that we can intentionally map out where we want to go. When we learn to appreciate the beautiful depths of the diversity of the early Christian faith we may be able to embrace a vision of the future gathering of all the people of God. The disciplines that Tony introduces us to in this book go a long way in making such a generous orthodoxy a reality in the present.