Jerry Sittser

Loss. It's a word that many of us fear and few of us can evade. It stalked Gerald Sittser one night and struck with full fury on a lonely road in Idaho. In an instant, a tragic accident claimed three generations of his family: his mother, his wife, and his young daughter. But this is not a book about one man's sorrow. Rather, it is a moving meditation on the losses we all suffer and the grace that can transform us. A Grace Disguised plumbs the depth of our sorrows, whether due to illness, divorce, or the loss of someone we love. The circumstances are not important; what we do with those circumstances is. In coming to the end of ourselves, we can come to the beginning of a new life - one marked by spiritual depth, joy, compassion, and a deeper appreciation of simple blessings. If your soul aches, you may be on a journey that will stretch your faith, your understanding of the meaning of life, and your knowledge of God. If you let it, your sorrow will increase your capacity to live well, to love life, and to experience joy, not after the darkness but even in the midst of it" -- www.books.google.co.nz… (altro)

An exploration into the faith and practice of the "early church" between the apostolic age and the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, following the pattern of the anonymous Letter to Diognetus.

The author does so with a view to encourage Christians in a post-Christendom, more secular world, since Christians in this period maintained and promoted their faith despite official opposition. The author explores how early Christians did so with the Letter to Diognetus and the portrayal of Christianity as the "Third Way," not the "First Way" of the Romans or the "Second Way" of the Jews. He explored what we can know from early sources about their way of life at home and in the world, their assemblies, how they spoke of Jesus, their community, their balance of maintaining what was revealed by the Apostles between the various forms of heresy, and what many pagans found appealing about the faith.

The real purpose of the work, revealed at the end, was the encouragement of the revival of some kind of the catechumate - a recognition that discipleship in faith cannot be expected to come from cultural mores or just unconscious absorption from society or even participation in the life of churches.

The book does well at opening the reader's eyes to the world of early Christianity. The author is a bit too much of a cheerleader for many of the patristic authors, and exalts them highly. There is not as much about monastic life or about chastity as might be expected. He seems to fully affirm the hierarchical leadership formats which developed in early Christianity and finds no difficulty with them. The author is not wrong that modern discipleship practices are not sufficiently robust, and while much can be learned from the catechumate process, it would be helpful to modify it for modern purposes.

Nevertheless, a good introduction to early Christianity for Christians who are generally woefully ignorant of this heritage, and all the more important since the world we inhabit is very much more like theirs than we might be willing to admit.

**--galley received as part of early review program… (altro)

This is a very wise book. Sittser deals thoughtfully and warmly with the various aspects of grief he explores. Most interestingly, he explains how the vast feeling of sorrow he felt upon loss expanded his soul's capacity for all feeling, because he faced it rather than shrinking from it. Not having experienced the death of someone very close to me, I didn't personally empathize with his process and experience of grief; but I appreciate the gift of understanding the process better from a distance because of hearing his story.… (altro)