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Worth Celebrating: A Biography of Richard J. Foster's Celebration of Discipline
An unknown author writes an unlikely book and inadvertently sparks an improbable global movement.
The manuscript was written longhand on a yellow pad in a small Oregon town by a Quaker pastor describing twelve ancient Christian disciplines (the very definition of the term "unlikely"). But publishers at Harper & Row saw something special in what Richard Foster had written and took a risk.
The movement kindled by the book developed slowly, almost imperceptibly. But once it caught hold, it exploded into flame.
Celebration of Discipline was conceived during a period in history that Charles Dickens might describe as being the best of times and the worst of times. From its inception, American culture had been linked to Christian faith and values. We were "one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." The 1950s and early '60s saw the peak years of American churchgoing, when 70 percent of citizens attended church. But as the decade of the '60s stretched on, values and perspectives that had long been accepted as foundational to American faith and life began to come into question.
When Celebration of Discipline spotlighted the superficiality that had come to characterize Christianity, it ignited the spiritual formation movement by prescribing the ancient spiritual practices as the necessary corrective. Michael Maudlin, religion publisher at HarperCollins, acknowledges, "People do not remember how Christians thought about spiritual formation in Christ before Celebration of Discipline was published. Most everybody now thinks it is natural for evangelicals to practice spiritual Disciplines. But it was not always so. Celebration of Discipline serves as a wonderful window into how a book can change a subculture."
This is the story of that book.
The manuscript was written longhand on a yellow pad in a small Oregon town by a Quaker pastor describing twelve ancient Christian disciplines (the very definition of the term "unlikely"). But publishers at Harper & Row saw something special in what Richard Foster had written and took a risk.
The movement kindled by the book developed slowly, almost imperceptibly. But once it caught hold, it exploded into flame.
Celebration of Discipline was conceived during a period in history that Charles Dickens might describe as being the best of times and the worst of times. From its inception, American culture had been linked to Christian faith and values. We were "one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." The 1950s and early '60s saw the peak years of American churchgoing, when 70 percent of citizens attended church. But as the decade of the '60s stretched on, values and perspectives that had long been accepted as foundational to American faith and life began to come into question.
When Celebration of Discipline spotlighted the superficiality that had come to characterize Christianity, it ignited the spiritual formation movement by prescribing the ancient spiritual practices as the necessary corrective. Michael Maudlin, religion publisher at HarperCollins, acknowledges, "People do not remember how Christians thought about spiritual formation in Christ before Celebration of Discipline was published. Most everybody now thinks it is natural for evangelicals to practice spiritual Disciplines. But it was not always so. Celebration of Discipline serves as a wonderful window into how a book can change a subculture."
This is the story of that book.
238 pages, Paperback
Published September 3, 2024
34 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 19, 2024
I probably would not have read this book, but I am happy I did as part of the Renovaré Book Club I joined.
Dixon’s book Worth Celebrating is an introduction to Foster’s book, Celebration of Discipline and the tough subject of a believer’s Spiritual Discipline Practice and Formation.
Her book does a great job in providing key comments from Foster and his influences to provide context for Celebration of Discipline material, its positive reception, and criticism.
Dixon’s book might be a little difficult for those unfamiliar with culture and history at the time, but then would serve as a framework for discussion with other readers who may have additional perspective.
The end of her book includes on p. 147 Foster’s recommendation for future reading - Foster’s “Starter Kit” with suggested order for reading. Her source is the Special Anniversary Edition of Celebration of Discipline, “The Great Conversation: An Annotated Bibliography” (p. 203). I think the phrase “The Great Conversation” helps me wrap my head around the mystical experiences of myself, the church, and the writers discussed by Dixon and Foster.
Dixon’s book Worth Celebrating is an introduction to Foster’s book, Celebration of Discipline and the tough subject of a believer’s Spiritual Discipline Practice and Formation.
Her book does a great job in providing key comments from Foster and his influences to provide context for Celebration of Discipline material, its positive reception, and criticism.
Dixon’s book might be a little difficult for those unfamiliar with culture and history at the time, but then would serve as a framework for discussion with other readers who may have additional perspective.
The end of her book includes on p. 147 Foster’s recommendation for future reading - Foster’s “Starter Kit” with suggested order for reading. Her source is the Special Anniversary Edition of Celebration of Discipline, “The Great Conversation: An Annotated Bibliography” (p. 203). I think the phrase “The Great Conversation” helps me wrap my head around the mystical experiences of myself, the church, and the writers discussed by Dixon and Foster.
December 22, 2024
I've never read a book biography before, but this was well worth the read, especially alongside the book it is about: Celebration of Discipline.
Many books come, have a season and then fade, some books last longer, and a few rare books take on a life of their own. Or as Dixon says "several million lives."
Many books come, have a season and then fade, some books last longer, and a few rare books take on a life of their own. Or as Dixon says "several million lives."
January 7, 2025
A biography of a book—but much more!
Reading this alongside reading Celebration of Discipline has enhanced and enriched the truth of Celebration of Discipline.
Reading this alongside reading Celebration of Discipline has enhanced and enriched the truth of Celebration of Discipline.
December 30, 2024
Summary: A book biography of Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster.
I have been aware of Miriam Dixon (Mimi) for a while. I assume it was a Renovare podcast that I first became aware of her. She was a pastor for 40 years, retiring in 2019, 34 of those years as the pastor of a single church in Colorado. She has been on the board of director for Renovare for quite awhile.
And I have been aware of Celebration of Discipline for decades. I think I read it while I was in college or seminary for the first time. And I think I read it again about 15-20 years ago. And I have read portions of it when I needed to refer to a spiritual discipline since then. But it wasn't until Worth Celebrating and Celebration of Discipline where choosen for the Renovare Book Club that I picked it up again.
As is clear from Worth Celebrating, Celebration of Disciple was a very influential book. Many evangelicals and other conservative protestants were resistant to spiritual disciplines because they felt "too Catholic" or thought they were a repudiation of the concept of grace. Foster as an outsider to the evangelical world, but with enough awareness of the evangelical world was able to frame spiritual disciplines in a way that was attractive and helpful.
I have listened to a number of interviews with both Richard Foster and Mimi Dixon. Foster did not want an academic to write the book biography of Celebration of Discipline, he wanted a pastor who had worked to form people spiritually to write it. I think there is some wisdom to that, but I also think that I have appreciated book biographies by people like Alan Jacobs, George Marsden and Martin Marty. I am less reluctant to have academic who are familiar with the subject write book biographies than Foster is and I am not sure at the end if I think Dixon was the right choice. She is enthusiastic, she was personally formed by Celebration of Discipline. She already had a relationship with Foster being on the Renovare board of directors.
It is more in the inteviews than the book, but Dixon was tickled by the idea of a book biography. It was new to her. She did real archival research and a ton of interviews. Worth Celebrating isn't a bad book, but I also don't think it is a great book. That being said, I reread all the reviews of book biographies that I have written about and the concept is pretty formulaic and the quality mostly pretty dry. I think Jacobs' biography of the Book of Common Prayer is probably the best, but it also has the longest history.
I do think it is interesting to understand context and how a book was recieved. CS Lewis was not naturally a darling of American Evangelicals, but he became one. Bonhoeffer has been distorted by many, but that story of how he was introducted to the large Christian world after his death does matter to how he is read now. And in the case of Worth Celebrating, if you are under 50, you probably have always been aware of the spiritual formation movement, but it is a fairly recent movement and it is unlikely that we would have Eugene Peterson or Dallas Willard or the host of younger authors and pastors and speakers without Richard Foster.
I do think that a bit more distance may have helped Worth Celebrating be a little bit better of a book. But, again, there is some value in writing about the book of an author who is still alive and who known well. Worth Celebrating is a short book. If you haven't read Celebration of Discipline I would recommend that over jumping into Worth Celebrating first. But there is value in understanding the context and culture to which the book was published and how it has impacted people in the nearly 45 years since it was published. For those who find that interesting, this is worth reading.
Two quotes that I think sum up why it may have been important for Mimi Dixon to have written it as opposed to a more academic author:
and
I think Dixon did discern and write about the problems of mistaking the disciplines as seeking after God and she was well aware that Foster is not trying to overwhelm people, but introduce them to the range of spiritual disciplines.
This was originally posted on my blog at https://bookwi.se/worth-celebrating/
I have been aware of Miriam Dixon (Mimi) for a while. I assume it was a Renovare podcast that I first became aware of her. She was a pastor for 40 years, retiring in 2019, 34 of those years as the pastor of a single church in Colorado. She has been on the board of director for Renovare for quite awhile.
And I have been aware of Celebration of Discipline for decades. I think I read it while I was in college or seminary for the first time. And I think I read it again about 15-20 years ago. And I have read portions of it when I needed to refer to a spiritual discipline since then. But it wasn't until Worth Celebrating and Celebration of Discipline where choosen for the Renovare Book Club that I picked it up again.
As is clear from Worth Celebrating, Celebration of Disciple was a very influential book. Many evangelicals and other conservative protestants were resistant to spiritual disciplines because they felt "too Catholic" or thought they were a repudiation of the concept of grace. Foster as an outsider to the evangelical world, but with enough awareness of the evangelical world was able to frame spiritual disciplines in a way that was attractive and helpful.
I have listened to a number of interviews with both Richard Foster and Mimi Dixon. Foster did not want an academic to write the book biography of Celebration of Discipline, he wanted a pastor who had worked to form people spiritually to write it. I think there is some wisdom to that, but I also think that I have appreciated book biographies by people like Alan Jacobs, George Marsden and Martin Marty. I am less reluctant to have academic who are familiar with the subject write book biographies than Foster is and I am not sure at the end if I think Dixon was the right choice. She is enthusiastic, she was personally formed by Celebration of Discipline. She already had a relationship with Foster being on the Renovare board of directors.
It is more in the inteviews than the book, but Dixon was tickled by the idea of a book biography. It was new to her. She did real archival research and a ton of interviews. Worth Celebrating isn't a bad book, but I also don't think it is a great book. That being said, I reread all the reviews of book biographies that I have written about and the concept is pretty formulaic and the quality mostly pretty dry. I think Jacobs' biography of the Book of Common Prayer is probably the best, but it also has the longest history.
I do think it is interesting to understand context and how a book was recieved. CS Lewis was not naturally a darling of American Evangelicals, but he became one. Bonhoeffer has been distorted by many, but that story of how he was introducted to the large Christian world after his death does matter to how he is read now. And in the case of Worth Celebrating, if you are under 50, you probably have always been aware of the spiritual formation movement, but it is a fairly recent movement and it is unlikely that we would have Eugene Peterson or Dallas Willard or the host of younger authors and pastors and speakers without Richard Foster.
I do think that a bit more distance may have helped Worth Celebrating be a little bit better of a book. But, again, there is some value in writing about the book of an author who is still alive and who known well. Worth Celebrating is a short book. If you haven't read Celebration of Discipline I would recommend that over jumping into Worth Celebrating first. But there is value in understanding the context and culture to which the book was published and how it has impacted people in the nearly 45 years since it was published. For those who find that interesting, this is worth reading.
Two quotes that I think sum up why it may have been important for Mimi Dixon to have written it as opposed to a more academic author:
As Richard Foster reflected on what he was seeing and hearing from readers, he drew the same conclusion. People were mistaking the means for the end. They were centering on the Disciplines themselves as though they were the most important thing. Richard found himself repeatedly stressing, “When we look at the Bible, we don’t find a great amount of discussion about the spiritual Disciplines. Oh, it’s there, and it’s important—but the one thing that is overwhelmingly important in the Bible is hearing and obeying God. The Disciplines are only a way of helping us to do that; they are a way we set ourselves before God. It is God who accomplishes the work of transformation in the human heart.”
and
"Always insist that the focus be your relationship with God, the with-God life that we’re after, and not on how to master one practice or another. One practice might help this individual; another practice is what will help that individual. We learn the heart of the person, and spiritual Disciplines appropriate for the individual will flow out of this life together. We don’t try to nail any of this down too tight. In my opinion, it is futile to try to measure this or that. We can know that a person is growing spiritually when they are more loving. That’s how we know."
I think Dixon did discern and write about the problems of mistaking the disciplines as seeking after God and she was well aware that Foster is not trying to overwhelm people, but introduce them to the range of spiritual disciplines.
This was originally posted on my blog at https://bookwi.se/worth-celebrating/
December 21, 2024
Read this in the Renovaré online book club along with Celebration of Discipline. Parts of Worth Celebrating are strong. The appendices constitute about a quarter of the book: I read thru those and struggled with the lists.
In retrospect, I suppose these are like the lists God shares in His book. As I read thru God’s lists I am assured He cares about details and I know that attention to detail plays out in my life as well.
And at the end, I come away from Worth Celebrating and its testimony of lives transformed with a jealousy. I am jealous for the years of my own life that I was not actively making myself available to God, not actively in the forge of Holy Spirit transformation into Christlikeness. Praise God He is patient and persistent.
Praise God for people like Richard Foster and Miriam Dixon that He is still using to invite us into the Way.
In retrospect, I suppose these are like the lists God shares in His book. As I read thru God’s lists I am assured He cares about details and I know that attention to detail plays out in my life as well.
And at the end, I come away from Worth Celebrating and its testimony of lives transformed with a jealousy. I am jealous for the years of my own life that I was not actively making myself available to God, not actively in the forge of Holy Spirit transformation into Christlikeness. Praise God He is patient and persistent.
Praise God for people like Richard Foster and Miriam Dixon that He is still using to invite us into the Way.
December 25, 2024
I read this book together with Foster’s “Celebration of Discipline” as a part of the Renovare bookclub. I have to say, I think reading the two books together was extremely helpful. Dixon does a great job of walking through the way that CoD was written, and she explains the way that it launched the spiritual formation movement in a very engaging way. While I’m sure that there could have been more detailed, academic versions of this work, Dixon does a great job in forming a narrative that helps bring the reader on a formational journey that follows the journey that CoD took. Overall, a worthwhile read.
September 11, 2024
A biography of a book? That's what this is, and I had no idea such a thing existed until now. So, I settled down with it and found a book I liked. It is probably a niche type item for most of its readers who are already acquainted with Foster and the book of this biography.
But, it can be an examination of how to create a book that will stay relevant for quite a while. Dixon explores the creation, reception, and ongoing influence of a book written by Richard J. Foster. That discussion could be the worth of this book in the final analysis.
But, it can be an examination of how to create a book that will stay relevant for quite a while. Dixon explores the creation, reception, and ongoing influence of a book written by Richard J. Foster. That discussion could be the worth of this book in the final analysis.
December 15, 2024
I will preface this review by saying that I don't really like book biographies. While sometimes films about the making of films at times are interesting and I can only think of one, "Hearts of Darkness," that is great, the biography of original works tend to be less great. While Miriam Dixon has done a really great job with the book itself, it just doesn't have the strong spine of the original narrative. If you really, really like Richard J. Foster's Celebration of Discipline, and it is a fine work, then read that book. I can't see that this book will have the longevity of the original.
December 13, 2024
"When most people hear the word discipline, they are thinking not of discipline but of rigidity. This is a misunderstanding. Discipline, remember, produces the ability to do what we need to do when we need to do it--like a musician or a skilled athlete. This is why the early Christians spoke of themselves as the 'athlete Dei,' the athletes of God. Discipline is the way God trains us into Christlikeness."
p 138
p 138
December 19, 2024
So enjoyed reading this alongside my re-reading of Celebration of Discipline for the Renovare Book Club. This is full of wonderful additional insight, background information and really helpful resources. Mimi Dixon is a treasure.
December 8, 2024
A Wonderful companion to A Celebration of Discipline. My first experience with a biography of a book. Highly recommend alongside or after having read A Celebration of Discupline
December 11, 2024
I am new to the idea of a book about a book.
December 16, 2024
Read along side of the Celebration of Discipline as part of book club. Helpful reflection on the book and its history.
January 1, 2025
Wonderful book about a book! Dixon's engagement with Foster and many others regarding the influence of his book demonstrates the long-lasting and continual impact.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews