Sacred Roots Spiritual Classics

The rules of Benedict and Basil show us how to live in community with one another. Though written for monasteries over 1500 years ago, these rules contain timeless wisdom about Christian community. Greg Peters has combined and reorganized the rule of Benedict and the rule of Basil for modern listeners so that we too can meditate on, enjoy, and apply the insights of two of the most influential Christians ever to have lived.

All ministry leaders need to cultivate healthy and life-giving friendships with peers, and especially with Jesus. Unfortunately, the concept of friendship has been reduced to clicks and “likes” on social media sites that are neither life-giving, nor truly signs of friendship.

Christianity is the faith of the poor. As Christians, we worship the Lord Jesus Christ, who “though he was rich, yet for your sake became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9). How do we discern the best responses to poverty? How should we as ministers, church leaders, and businesspeople engage in our communities? Sometimes it seems that we in the modern American church stand on opposite sides of an impassible gulf as we talk about poverty and justice.

In Books Jesus Read, Robert "Dr. Bob" Lay takes his listeners on a guided tour of the Apocrypha—Jewish history, stories, and wisdom written in the 400 years between the Old and New Testaments. These are some of the writings Jesus and other first-century Jews would have known. For anyone wanting to better understand Jesus and the New Testament, look no further than the books Jesus himself may have read.

What were the most important practices in the early church? In this volume, Michael Cooper arranges the writings of the Apostolic Fathers into eight themes that provide deeper understanding about the subjects important to the disciples of the New Testament apostles.

Many Christians struggle to connect their faith with social justice. If God is a loving god then why does he allow injustices to exist? What does God's word have to say about poverty and racism? If God loves immigrants and the poor then why do so many Christians actually promote injustice? 1.2 million young people are leaving the church in America every year--many because of the broken witness of numerous Christians toward immigrants, the poor, the disabled, and the incarcerated.

In Mission with Prophetic Power, Evan Howard introduces us to his good friend John Woolman (1720–1772). In this autobiographical record of his life, Woolman describes his charismatic, contemplative, and evangelical spirituality as he practiced a lifestyle of fair trade (justice) and minimalism (simplicity). Encounter testimonies of the “operations of divine love” in Woolman’s record of the goodness of God.

Reading the Bible to Meet Jesus, part of the Sacred Roots Spiritual Classics series, is a refreshed English version and study guide for the ancient work Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, written by early church leader Irenaeus of Lyons. Irenaeus captures a sense of the epic scope of God’s plans being worked out in history, culminating in the ministry of Jesus Christ. Irenaeus interacts deeply with Scripture to show how this grand story of God’s activity and presence is demonstrated throughout the Bible.