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A Spirituality of Listening: Living What We Hear
"Biblical spirituality . . . asserts that God is not done with the business of revelation and creation but instead continues to have something to say and something yet to be accomplished in the very culture that isn't sure if God is done speaking." So begins Keith Anderson as he invites us on a journey to relearn how to listen. "My claim is spirituality is grounded in ordinary life experiences. We need to learn to listen to rhythms of life, narratives and creation." Rather than settling for a one-sided relationship with God in which we speak but never hear back, we can learn to hear God as we go through our lives. The key is paying attention to the moments that make up our days. As we participate in the world around us, God speaks to us through creation, through the stories we tell, through our pain and as we follow God down unexpected pathways. Learning to listen doesn't happen in ten easy steps. Instead it is a process of approaching the world with wonder and curiosity as we seek to make sense of what we hear. Hearing God speak takes time and practice, and Anderson offers reflective exercises at the end of each chapter to help us along the way. Listen―and step into a world alive with God's presence.
208 pages, Paperback
First published March 12, 2016
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134 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 13, 2016
Listening. It's a topic I've found myself interested in all my life. As an introvert who finds people fascinating I've spent a lot of time listening to and watching others, absorbing what they say, how they say it, and what they leave out. As a Christian I've tried to listen in the same way to God. But there have been many - I'd say too many - times when I'm either not listening well enough or he's not talking. So I was very interested in this book. I was also prepared to be disappointed, knowing it might not give me just what I was hoping for. Turns out I wasn't disappointed at all.
This is an amazing look at listening, how we do it, how it can help us, and how we can do it better. There are plenty of practical examples from the author's life but there's also a lot of the Bible and other Christian writers, from Brennan Manning to John Calvin to Rabbi Abraham Heschel. I loved the mix of inspirational and practical and read this book really quickly. I highlighted and took notes, all the while knowing I'd be getting myself a copy to keep and share.
This book is for people who believe there's probably a God but aren't sure he has anything to say to their world or their lives. It's also for those who know there's a God and have heard from him before but aren't satisfied with their relationship as it is now. In other words, anyone who would like to hear more from God. I will be buying a copy for myself and marking it up. I wish I could afford to buy 20 or 30 copies and hand them out to the people I know who struggle, wonder, question, and sometimes ask themselves "Is this all there is?" 10 stars. At least. :) I mean, when's the last time you read an entire chapter on lamentation as prayer?
I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.
This is an amazing look at listening, how we do it, how it can help us, and how we can do it better. There are plenty of practical examples from the author's life but there's also a lot of the Bible and other Christian writers, from Brennan Manning to John Calvin to Rabbi Abraham Heschel. I loved the mix of inspirational and practical and read this book really quickly. I highlighted and took notes, all the while knowing I'd be getting myself a copy to keep and share.
This book is for people who believe there's probably a God but aren't sure he has anything to say to their world or their lives. It's also for those who know there's a God and have heard from him before but aren't satisfied with their relationship as it is now. In other words, anyone who would like to hear more from God. I will be buying a copy for myself and marking it up. I wish I could afford to buy 20 or 30 copies and hand them out to the people I know who struggle, wonder, question, and sometimes ask themselves "Is this all there is?" 10 stars. At least. :) I mean, when's the last time you read an entire chapter on lamentation as prayer?
I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.
June 22, 2016
A great book to read when your desire to learn and listen from whatever divine entity you believe in is met by a fear of hearing only more darkness and loneliness.
August 17, 2016
This was a good book. Probably will read it again; but will read it slower so that I can "listen" better to things that he has to offer. Many spiritual discipline books I don't find helpful. There are things worth considering here.
February 10, 2017
Listening is a challenge and Keith Anderson takes us deep into that challenge. He offers ideas that can expand our listening practices into places and in ways that we probably have not considered or perhaps imagined. It's always easy to hear the things we agree with and people who express those things in ways we understand but will we dare to step into unfamiliar or even uncomfortable territory and listen for the voice of God there because " His ways are not our ways neither are His thoughts our thoughts" Isaiah 55:8-9
March 21, 2016
The Practice of Listening
Students had assembled for an October chapel service as several dozen faculty members strode to the front of the Great Hall bearing symbols of their work — a laser in the hands of a physicist, clay in the hands of an artist, spreadsheets borne by an economist. Each offering was placed on the stage, transforming it into an altar. Prayers of blessing consecrated each symbol of the professors’ work and communicated a valuable lesson to the student body on that day: All work is holy work when the worker is listening for the voice of God.
A Spirituality of Listening is Keith Anderson’s argument that listening to the voice of God, paying attention to the rhythms of obedience, discipleship, and worship, mark the beginning of “living what we hear.” All of our spirituality is “grounded in ordinary life experiences.” In the process of sharing from his own life and the deep well of his reading and thinking, principles of listening practice emerge that are based in the author’s understanding of spirituality: “learning to pay attention to the speaking voice of God in everything; paying attention to God’s active presence and seeking to stand in that place.”
Listening fosters spirituality in its simplest form, for God shows up in time and space. During Old Testament times and in the time of Christ, interaction with the Word of God happened through listening. Life in an oral culture gave weight to the words of Genesis 1: “God said . . .” It is not for nothing that Jesus made his point eight times in the Gospels: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Therefore, for the one who believingly follows the speaking God, listening must be an intentional “emptying of distractions and noises that gives [the] soul space to hear what is there.”
A Spirituality of Listening was written on the fly — not in a quiet office, but in moments snatched in a crowded ferry terminal and in noisy places Keith Anderson inhabits each day. His writing an exercise in attention itself, he offers his thoughts on filtering and classifying sounds on a continuum from white noise, through business sounds, sounds that trigger emotions, the endless chatter of one’s inner storyteller, and, finally, “meaning sounds where you are making sense out of the storyteller in your mind.” Paul emphasizes the importance of the everyday life, urging his readers to make even our listening into a spiritual discipline, to train the ears and the heart to work together in finding the voice of God in everyday, ordinary life.
The idea that story matters is central to Anderson’s thinking. God has given the biblical narrative as a guide for truly hearing our own life’s story, and even so, we live in the midst of an unfolding plotline that yields, at times, more questions than answers. Keith Andersons’ wife suffers from the constant pain of idiopathic neuropathy, and so he queries: Where is God in this? Listening, he sees that the answer will not be an audible defense, but instead a gradual, unfolding story to which he and his wife must keep listening.
God’s “be still” in Psalm 46:10 is His invitation to persist in one’s trajectory of faith, for God is in the business of speaking — but is also a Listener whose ears are tuned to the language of lament. Coming down with both feet on the position that lament is an act of bold faith, Keith Anderson asserts that lament makes for good theology. God’s Old Testament prophets reinforce that justice is a core value to God — not merely in their lament, but also in their statements about God and worship.
As Jesus listened to the words of Torah, active listeners today tune their ears to His words in the Gospels. Listening comprises both “Remember” and “Observe,” because it will be our humble voices that carry the Divine Voice to future generations through our words and our deeds. Both community and solitude have their impact upon the listening life today (even as they did in the earthly life of Christ), and the example of Jesus teaches that the voice of God may be heard in “unexpected voices and surprising places.”
Wendell Berry (one of the many excellent writers quoted in A Spirituality of Listening) is at his wisest when he yields the podium to Jayber Crow who said:
“Telling a story is like reaching into a granary full of wheat and drawing out only a handful. There is always more to tell than can be told.”
This is the nature of all story-telling, and is especially true when we are listening for God. There is always more. Keith Anderson’s writing emphasizes the absolute other-ness of God while, at the same time, exalting the truth that incarnation has made sacred every little thing. Knowing that I am heard by the-God-who-speaks-and-the-God-who-also-hears draws me into active and expansive listening, waiting for the heart of another to be unmasked — or for whatever God might choose to reveal.
//
This book was provided by IVP Books, an imprint of Intervarsity Press, in exchange for my review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Students had assembled for an October chapel service as several dozen faculty members strode to the front of the Great Hall bearing symbols of their work — a laser in the hands of a physicist, clay in the hands of an artist, spreadsheets borne by an economist. Each offering was placed on the stage, transforming it into an altar. Prayers of blessing consecrated each symbol of the professors’ work and communicated a valuable lesson to the student body on that day: All work is holy work when the worker is listening for the voice of God.
A Spirituality of Listening is Keith Anderson’s argument that listening to the voice of God, paying attention to the rhythms of obedience, discipleship, and worship, mark the beginning of “living what we hear.” All of our spirituality is “grounded in ordinary life experiences.” In the process of sharing from his own life and the deep well of his reading and thinking, principles of listening practice emerge that are based in the author’s understanding of spirituality: “learning to pay attention to the speaking voice of God in everything; paying attention to God’s active presence and seeking to stand in that place.”
Listening fosters spirituality in its simplest form, for God shows up in time and space. During Old Testament times and in the time of Christ, interaction with the Word of God happened through listening. Life in an oral culture gave weight to the words of Genesis 1: “God said . . .” It is not for nothing that Jesus made his point eight times in the Gospels: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Therefore, for the one who believingly follows the speaking God, listening must be an intentional “emptying of distractions and noises that gives [the] soul space to hear what is there.”
A Spirituality of Listening was written on the fly — not in a quiet office, but in moments snatched in a crowded ferry terminal and in noisy places Keith Anderson inhabits each day. His writing an exercise in attention itself, he offers his thoughts on filtering and classifying sounds on a continuum from white noise, through business sounds, sounds that trigger emotions, the endless chatter of one’s inner storyteller, and, finally, “meaning sounds where you are making sense out of the storyteller in your mind.” Paul emphasizes the importance of the everyday life, urging his readers to make even our listening into a spiritual discipline, to train the ears and the heart to work together in finding the voice of God in everyday, ordinary life.
The idea that story matters is central to Anderson’s thinking. God has given the biblical narrative as a guide for truly hearing our own life’s story, and even so, we live in the midst of an unfolding plotline that yields, at times, more questions than answers. Keith Andersons’ wife suffers from the constant pain of idiopathic neuropathy, and so he queries: Where is God in this? Listening, he sees that the answer will not be an audible defense, but instead a gradual, unfolding story to which he and his wife must keep listening.
God’s “be still” in Psalm 46:10 is His invitation to persist in one’s trajectory of faith, for God is in the business of speaking — but is also a Listener whose ears are tuned to the language of lament. Coming down with both feet on the position that lament is an act of bold faith, Keith Anderson asserts that lament makes for good theology. God’s Old Testament prophets reinforce that justice is a core value to God — not merely in their lament, but also in their statements about God and worship.
As Jesus listened to the words of Torah, active listeners today tune their ears to His words in the Gospels. Listening comprises both “Remember” and “Observe,” because it will be our humble voices that carry the Divine Voice to future generations through our words and our deeds. Both community and solitude have their impact upon the listening life today (even as they did in the earthly life of Christ), and the example of Jesus teaches that the voice of God may be heard in “unexpected voices and surprising places.”
Wendell Berry (one of the many excellent writers quoted in A Spirituality of Listening) is at his wisest when he yields the podium to Jayber Crow who said:
“Telling a story is like reaching into a granary full of wheat and drawing out only a handful. There is always more to tell than can be told.”
This is the nature of all story-telling, and is especially true when we are listening for God. There is always more. Keith Anderson’s writing emphasizes the absolute other-ness of God while, at the same time, exalting the truth that incarnation has made sacred every little thing. Knowing that I am heard by the-God-who-speaks-and-the-God-who-also-hears draws me into active and expansive listening, waiting for the heart of another to be unmasked — or for whatever God might choose to reveal.
//
This book was provided by IVP Books, an imprint of Intervarsity Press, in exchange for my review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
June 3, 2018
Mostly gave rationale for listening better. Some ok suggestions at the end of a few chapters for how to listen better. Knew that it wasn't a "How To" book on listening, but I have found better books on the subject. Still, it provoked some good thought.
July 23, 2022
Eminently readable
A lot of books reading is kind of like paddling, even if I’m going down stream. With this book I did not have to paddle, I just let the current caring me in this delightful reminder of what it means to listen to the Holy Spirit in the rhythms of life.
A lot of books reading is kind of like paddling, even if I’m going down stream. With this book I did not have to paddle, I just let the current caring me in this delightful reminder of what it means to listen to the Holy Spirit in the rhythms of life.
February 16, 2019
This is an excellent explanation of how to find God in the ordinary, to find God in listening to the world around us and what we can learn from listening and watching Jesus.
April 14, 2016
I had mixed feelings about this book. I liked the work and found a great deal to ponder within its pages. And I wrestled with it, often forgetting altogether what the author was actually talking about as he wandered across a broad expanse of topics.
As a reader summarizing I would tell you that the book is actually about “spirituality” and that listening is presented as a core tenant of living a spiritual life, which was good, just not what the title and book summary led me to expect. And of course the topic of spirituality is incredibly broad, which did leave me feeling as if we kept dabbling along the surface of many ideas without the chance to move deeply into one core idea.
Also unexpected was that the book assumes a target audience of which I am not a part. I read the entire book with the distinct feeling that the author was not writing to me, which made it hard to engage. From my perspective the author is addressing three groups of people: people who are disillusioned with the traditional context of organizational church, people within an American cultural context that dismisses Christian contemplative practices as unattainable for the average “busy” Christian and the millennial generation. (Note: I’m not surprised by the American context as much as disappointed that the material isn’t as applicable across cultures as I could have would have wished.)
Overall, I thought The Spirituality of Listening contained a lot of good material, but the fact that it covers such a broad range of topics delivered to a rather focused audience limits its appeal.
– – –
I received a free digital, pre-release galley of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
As a reader summarizing I would tell you that the book is actually about “spirituality” and that listening is presented as a core tenant of living a spiritual life, which was good, just not what the title and book summary led me to expect. And of course the topic of spirituality is incredibly broad, which did leave me feeling as if we kept dabbling along the surface of many ideas without the chance to move deeply into one core idea.
Also unexpected was that the book assumes a target audience of which I am not a part. I read the entire book with the distinct feeling that the author was not writing to me, which made it hard to engage. From my perspective the author is addressing three groups of people: people who are disillusioned with the traditional context of organizational church, people within an American cultural context that dismisses Christian contemplative practices as unattainable for the average “busy” Christian and the millennial generation. (Note: I’m not surprised by the American context as much as disappointed that the material isn’t as applicable across cultures as I could have would have wished.)
Overall, I thought The Spirituality of Listening contained a lot of good material, but the fact that it covers such a broad range of topics delivered to a rather focused audience limits its appeal.
– – –
I received a free digital, pre-release galley of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
February 14, 2017
QUotable. Profound. Brilliant. So easy to read. Yes to this! had a profound effect on me.
March 24, 2016
This book has a little bit of everything for everyone. It certainly is well written the introduction is right, this man loves words and chooses them carefully. I think anybody can enjoy this book for that reason alone it is beautifully written. This book is also a combination of practical advice, his opinions, scriptures, poetry, word pictures and his own spiritual experience. I did not agree with everything he said but I don't have to, there was so a lot to glean and think about.
May 11, 2016
A Spirituality of Listening is a great starter text for people who know they need to slow down and pay attention. Anderson’s book is filled with helpful practices that fit in everyday, ordinary life. His writing is approachable and friendly. The best part of the book were Anderson’s quotes from wise teachers through history. He gleans a sentence here and there and you feel him connect you to a way of life those ancients lived, a way of life we desire just to touch.
June 19, 2016
To many people listening is no longer a required skill in todays society. They are therefore missing out on listening to God and learning the way He would want us to travel. Anderson calls us to listen for God's voice as we go about our day and draw nearer to God in doing so.
This is an important and enjoyable book with exercises after each chapter to encourage us to relearn this skill.
ARC from NetGalley
This is an important and enjoyable book with exercises after each chapter to encourage us to relearn this skill.
ARC from NetGalley
February 16, 2018
I can hear Keith's voice speaking this book, which is itself a reason to pick it up. That it's full of other Keithisms - Wendell Berry quotes and etymologies, of course - just adds to the delight.
The text is a call to pay attention to the world around us in all its messy beautiful complexity; the entire world, for Anderson, is God entering into conversation with us. He offers a meditative reflection on his practice of listening and ends each chapter by inviting the reader into a practice.
The text is a call to pay attention to the world around us in all its messy beautiful complexity; the entire world, for Anderson, is God entering into conversation with us. He offers a meditative reflection on his practice of listening and ends each chapter by inviting the reader into a practice.
May 30, 2016
At first I was disappointed by the book's lack of a step-by-step "This is how you hear from God" formula, but then I realized that this is what makes this book beautiful. It is a book that speaks to you only if you are listening, and it might speak to you in ways you didn't expect. Simply put, as you read you discover how God has been speaking to you the whole time.
August 13, 2016
It was an interesting read, but got wordy and boring toward the end.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews