What do you think?
Rate this book
The Way of Discernment: Spiritual Practices for Decision Making
We all make decisions constantly--some with careful reflection, some without much thought. But what if we understood these decisions, minor as well as major, as matters of faithful Christian living? In this helpful and encouraging book, Elizabeth Liebert introduces the practice of discernment and guides readers through the process of faithful decision making. Following the way of discernment means becoming increasingly able to notice where God is at work in the world and in one's own life--and becoming increasingly generous with one's own life in response. After briefly exploring the Christian tradition of discernment, Liebert then turns to practical steps and exercises that will help readers as they seek God's call in the midst of their decisions, allowing readers to internalize some of these practices and incorporate them into their daily lives.
192 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2008
30 people are currently reading
226 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
February 8, 2019
A good book to slowly work your way through while approaching a significant decision. Liebert includes practices within every chapter that are meant to take time, and she writes on a wide breadth of discernment approaches (imagination, emotions, reason, intuition, etc.) so that every person can connect with some of her methods, regardless of personality type. I especially appreciated the chapters that stretched my thinking on how discernment is done - I would probably never have considered what it means to discern through my intuition, or my body, without reading this.
Her theological framework may be too uncomfortably "liberal" for some, but I appreciate the broad swath of her thinking, and the book is way too short to provide deep theological reflection, anyways. Those who are interested in learning more about the wider tradition of Christian discernment, as well as those who gravitate towards spiritual practices, will find much to appreciate here.
Her theological framework may be too uncomfortably "liberal" for some, but I appreciate the broad swath of her thinking, and the book is way too short to provide deep theological reflection, anyways. Those who are interested in learning more about the wider tradition of Christian discernment, as well as those who gravitate towards spiritual practices, will find much to appreciate here.
January 10, 2023
Read this one slowly over the past 8 months. This is a resource that is being used in my ministry community. Helpful to be introduced to the variety of discernment practices. Will be good book to reference back to in the future too.
December 18, 2023
Summary: An exploration of spiritual practices that can facilitate decision-making.
Over the next several months I will do a reading projection around the concept, history, and teaching of Christian discernment. I picked up The Way of Discernment in part because one of the people I meet with for spiritual direction is processing through both individual and corporate discernment and it felt like a good time to do a personal deep dive.
I have some biases going into the idea of discernment that may change, but I want to say them out loud because they will likely keep influencing how I read going forward. First, I think discernment is a spiritual practice of seeking after God. Many people frame discernment as primarily about decision-making. And I fear that when the focus is the process and not the goal of seeking after God, we reduce what is a spiritual practice to a self-help checklist. Second, and related, developing discernment is about building character and virtue and orienting ourselves to rightly seeing God, not developing skills to interpret and decide or process information. Third, while I think there may be a "spiritual gift" of discernment, this is a general gift of the church, not limited to only a few. There are likely people who are better at discernment than others, but that doesn't mean that discernment is only for the gifted. Fourth, the development of discernment is a part of the discipleship process. I started listening to a series of lectures on discernment by Timothy Gallagher, and he suggested that teaching about discernment was a third-level task. In this view, what comes first is to evangelize and introduce people to Jesus; then, once they have met Jesus, they need basic discipleship. Discernment was part of a more advanced discipleship work that requires people to be more intentional, introspective, and focused on their role in sanctification.
With that too-long introduction, The Way of Discernment is helpful and a book I would recommend, although it is oriented toward spiritual practices to make decisions. She agrees that discernment is often a shorthand for decision-making and can be problematic. In her conception,
The book is split into two main parts. The first section frames what she understands as discernment and is rooted in biblical grounding and church tradition. The second part explores practical exercises and types of spiritual practices to work through specific questions. She starts with the assumption that we have a question that we are seeking God's direction. Helping to clarify the question is part of the practices she discusses. If you have a clear thing you seek, this book can help practice what is being discussed. If you approach this more abstractly (as I was), this becomes a more theoretical and less practical exercise. But the book is intended to be a practical guide.
This summary is helpful for her understanding of discernment:
Part of what I found helpful at the book at the theoretical level is that she is aware of what keeps people from discernment and raises many of them. Part of the problem is that our assumptions play into our evaluation. She says, and I agree, that discernment should be freeing us spiritually. But many have understood that Christianity is at root placing ourselves as the least important consideration. And this can lead to people understanding that God will always be directing us toward the hard thing, or the thing that we do not want to do. If this is our understanding of God, then personal desire is a negative arrow toward discernment. Her engagement with the idea of desire and the idea of what God's will is as a concept is very helpful.
There are good summaries at the end of each chapter. I will quote another long summary because I think it gives a good sense of how Liebert understands the work of discernment:
She is also aware of the ways that our assumptions, our cultural biases, or history of trauma and other factors will influence our discernment. The goal is not to withdraw ourselves from culture or to heal all trauma before attempting discernment or "becoming completely objective" in a way that is not possible for any except God but to get a sense of the ways that our background will influence our discernment. One of the ways that the idea of natural law can be a problem is that it can work with the assumption that the way something is comes from divine order. This can be seen in the way that some conceive of gender hierarchy. It goes like this:
Men have been in charge most often throughout history.
Therefore, God intended that there be a hierarchy.
So, working against a gender hierarchy is in opposition to God.
Most people are not so unsubtle as this, but some say this explicitly. I use this example because the ways that Leibert works through the theoretical problems of discernment at the beginning of the book are very helpful broadly in discipleship. Identifying that there is a bias or a lack of maturity in our Christianity does not mean that we have to solve all things before God can speak to us. It only means that we are human like all other humans.
I will not speak about the spiritual practices section other than to say that some will be more helpful than others because we are not all made in the same way. God is infinitely creative and seems to always work in different ways at different times.
originally posted on my blog at https://bookwi.se/the-way-of-discernm...
Over the next several months I will do a reading projection around the concept, history, and teaching of Christian discernment. I picked up The Way of Discernment in part because one of the people I meet with for spiritual direction is processing through both individual and corporate discernment and it felt like a good time to do a personal deep dive.
I have some biases going into the idea of discernment that may change, but I want to say them out loud because they will likely keep influencing how I read going forward. First, I think discernment is a spiritual practice of seeking after God. Many people frame discernment as primarily about decision-making. And I fear that when the focus is the process and not the goal of seeking after God, we reduce what is a spiritual practice to a self-help checklist. Second, and related, developing discernment is about building character and virtue and orienting ourselves to rightly seeing God, not developing skills to interpret and decide or process information. Third, while I think there may be a "spiritual gift" of discernment, this is a general gift of the church, not limited to only a few. There are likely people who are better at discernment than others, but that doesn't mean that discernment is only for the gifted. Fourth, the development of discernment is a part of the discipleship process. I started listening to a series of lectures on discernment by Timothy Gallagher, and he suggested that teaching about discernment was a third-level task. In this view, what comes first is to evangelize and introduce people to Jesus; then, once they have met Jesus, they need basic discipleship. Discernment was part of a more advanced discipleship work that requires people to be more intentional, introspective, and focused on their role in sanctification.
With that too-long introduction, The Way of Discernment is helpful and a book I would recommend, although it is oriented toward spiritual practices to make decisions. She agrees that discernment is often a shorthand for decision-making and can be problematic. In her conception,
"...decision is the occasion for seeking God, not the primary goal. Setting out with the goal of making a decision that we then ask God to bless is to confuse the goal and the means. Rather, discernment involves the goal of seeking God through the means of decision making." (p44)
The book is split into two main parts. The first section frames what she understands as discernment and is rooted in biblical grounding and church tradition. The second part explores practical exercises and types of spiritual practices to work through specific questions. She starts with the assumption that we have a question that we are seeking God's direction. Helping to clarify the question is part of the practices she discusses. If you have a clear thing you seek, this book can help practice what is being discussed. If you approach this more abstractly (as I was), this becomes a more theoretical and less practical exercise. But the book is intended to be a practical guide.
This summary is helpful for her understanding of discernment:
"To summarize: Discernment means making a discriminating choice between two or more good options, seeking the best for this moment. These choices, while personal and conditional, are set within the community of faith and honor our previous well-made decisions. Discernment does not bring us absolute certainty, but rather operates in a climate of faith. Seeking to follow God’s call moves us toward that which is better for us individually and for our world, and assures us that God will accompany us into the unknown." (p10)
Part of what I found helpful at the book at the theoretical level is that she is aware of what keeps people from discernment and raises many of them. Part of the problem is that our assumptions play into our evaluation. She says, and I agree, that discernment should be freeing us spiritually. But many have understood that Christianity is at root placing ourselves as the least important consideration. And this can lead to people understanding that God will always be directing us toward the hard thing, or the thing that we do not want to do. If this is our understanding of God, then personal desire is a negative arrow toward discernment. Her engagement with the idea of desire and the idea of what God's will is as a concept is very helpful.
There are good summaries at the end of each chapter. I will quote another long summary because I think it gives a good sense of how Liebert understands the work of discernment:
"To summarize: desires underlie all our motivation; discernment urges us to choose well among these desires. Our experience as loved and saved sinners allows us to believe that discernment can happen. We can enter into a process of sifting through the ambiguities of our situation. Our experience as co-creators of God’s unfolding purpose in creation underlies the importance of discerning well. It matters to the continual outworking of God’s creative life. Growing in spiritual freedom through spiritual indifference is simultaneously the essential prerequisite and the goal of spiritual discernment. Without this spiritual freedom, discernment, as such, does not exist. With it, discernment becomes a powerful means of growing in holiness. Finally, seeking great desires, the “more,” invites us to stretch beyond our limited horizons to do something great for God. Ignatius’s foundational statement about indifference, here rewritten to express it from God’s point of view, cuts to the heart of the spiritual indifference that we seek before, through, and as a result of our discernment." (p36)
She is also aware of the ways that our assumptions, our cultural biases, or history of trauma and other factors will influence our discernment. The goal is not to withdraw ourselves from culture or to heal all trauma before attempting discernment or "becoming completely objective" in a way that is not possible for any except God but to get a sense of the ways that our background will influence our discernment. One of the ways that the idea of natural law can be a problem is that it can work with the assumption that the way something is comes from divine order. This can be seen in the way that some conceive of gender hierarchy. It goes like this:
Men have been in charge most often throughout history.
Therefore, God intended that there be a hierarchy.
So, working against a gender hierarchy is in opposition to God.
Most people are not so unsubtle as this, but some say this explicitly. I use this example because the ways that Leibert works through the theoretical problems of discernment at the beginning of the book are very helpful broadly in discipleship. Identifying that there is a bias or a lack of maturity in our Christianity does not mean that we have to solve all things before God can speak to us. It only means that we are human like all other humans.
I will not speak about the spiritual practices section other than to say that some will be more helpful than others because we are not all made in the same way. God is infinitely creative and seems to always work in different ways at different times.
originally posted on my blog at https://bookwi.se/the-way-of-discernm...
February 3, 2011
You'll see a few more academic books on my list in the coming months since I'm auditing a class on discernment at General Theological Seminary. My commercial sensibilities wreak havoc on niche academic/pastoral books from small presses. It's all so very dry, and not necessarily in content, just style. I found myself wanting to pair a good writer with the author.
March 26, 2020
In this valuable, little book, a scholar of spirituality and practical theology offers a guided course in the Christian art of discernment.
Discernment is not decision making; it is, rather, "seeking God in the context of a decision." This is a crucial definition, and I have to thank Elizabeth Liebert for it.
Elizabeth Liebert of San Francisco Seminary (affiliated with Graduate Theological Union) first defines discernment and then lays the groundwork for it, before offering seven different "entry points" on the path to discernment. These seven entry points are memory, intuition, the body, imagination, reason, feelings, and nature. Different temperaments benefit from different entry points, but all are valuable because all lead to a fuller relationship with God and a fuller picture of oneself. The final chapter of the book is immensely helpful in defining "touchstones" on the path to discernment, that is, those spiritual experiences that serve to confirm or challenge past discernment experiences.
The book was uneven at times; Liebert did not make herself clear in chapter 10: "Nature's Perspective." Yet, despite that, it is a useful book and I was glad to read it for a graduate class.
Discernment is not decision making; it is, rather, "seeking God in the context of a decision." This is a crucial definition, and I have to thank Elizabeth Liebert for it.
Elizabeth Liebert of San Francisco Seminary (affiliated with Graduate Theological Union) first defines discernment and then lays the groundwork for it, before offering seven different "entry points" on the path to discernment. These seven entry points are memory, intuition, the body, imagination, reason, feelings, and nature. Different temperaments benefit from different entry points, but all are valuable because all lead to a fuller relationship with God and a fuller picture of oneself. The final chapter of the book is immensely helpful in defining "touchstones" on the path to discernment, that is, those spiritual experiences that serve to confirm or challenge past discernment experiences.
The book was uneven at times; Liebert did not make herself clear in chapter 10: "Nature's Perspective." Yet, despite that, it is a useful book and I was glad to read it for a graduate class.
May 11, 2018
A really practical book on discernment, almost a manual, laying out a path for making decisions and finding our way generally between goods and through ambiguity, and discovering and communing with God, self, and creation as we do so. Liebert is steeped in scripture and in Protestant and Catholic tradition around discernment, and is thoughtfully creative with her own additional suggestions. The recommended exercises in the book are by far its best feature.
March 16, 2018
Discernment can sometimes become a word that we throw around instead of a practice that has transformed us. Liebert carefully discusses what discernment is and what it is not as well as different practices to engage in for discernment
August 10, 2021
Additional to learning about the amazing and various approaches that can used to discern, the author gives really good exercise for approaching and working through discernment. Highly recommend for anyone considering stepping into big decisions and choices.
January 30, 2025
I read this for school and it was very good. At times I felt like I was swimming in processes and how-to's, but this book is a great companion to what I have already read about Discernment. Great resources that I know I will use in Spiritual Direction.
April 9, 2025
One of the best books I’ve read on discernment! Would highly recommend if you’re looking to decide on a big life issue. High key would do a book club on this cause there’s just so much good stuff to discuss.
April 2, 2022
Great practical ways to practice discernment.
July 29, 2022
This is a very helpful book in discerning Gods direction. Liebert supplies a number of practices that I found quite helpful
May 8, 2023
the best book i have read so far on this topic. Full of not just information, but wisdom.
February 27, 2024
Discernment activities very helpful and enhanced the reading.
April 11, 2024
Simple and straightforward, but enjoyable and worth the read. A bit wordy at times.
December 11, 2024
I only read selected chapters from this book. From others reviews, my rating would likely change if I read all the chapters.
February 8, 2025
Such a wise guide to Ignatian decision-making. This books will help you discern big and small life choices as a deepening and extending of your Christian faith.
March 3, 2022
Good, but very focused and detailed. Very helpful for someone in the midst of the process of discernment for a particular life circumstance.
August 7, 2024
The best book I’ve ever read on discernment! Loved the practices throughout. Will come back to this one in many different seasons!
April 13, 2011
Liebert offers insight into the issue of discerning. Perhaps her most notable emphasis is that discernment is a never-ending process. She explains, "If this book succeeds, your former way of decision making will gradually be replaced by a discerning attitude. Your life will begin to take on a different orientation. You will be seeking God in places and through decisions that never occurred to you before." (Loc. 91) Liebert approaches the issue from a personal perspective rather than a community perspective. However, her insights may be helpful.
I appreciate her emphasis on the role of the Holy Spirit and her pointing toward the mind of Christ. She describes, "Discernment is a process. We gradually “put on the mind of Christ” (Phil. 2:5; 1 Cor. 2:14) every time we search out and choose that which better aligns us with the Jesus of the Gospels, the Christ of faith. A discerning life, then, is composed of repeated discerning moments; likewise, each major discernment rests on many small moments of listening for God in the midst of everyday life. Our intention is that all our decisions will enhance this putting on the mind of Christ. To the degree that they do, we are fulfilling the purpose for which we have been created." (Loc. 428)
Some aspects of the book were not as helpful in my research, but overall this seems to be a good read.
I appreciate her emphasis on the role of the Holy Spirit and her pointing toward the mind of Christ. She describes, "Discernment is a process. We gradually “put on the mind of Christ” (Phil. 2:5; 1 Cor. 2:14) every time we search out and choose that which better aligns us with the Jesus of the Gospels, the Christ of faith. A discerning life, then, is composed of repeated discerning moments; likewise, each major discernment rests on many small moments of listening for God in the midst of everyday life. Our intention is that all our decisions will enhance this putting on the mind of Christ. To the degree that they do, we are fulfilling the purpose for which we have been created." (Loc. 428)
Some aspects of the book were not as helpful in my research, but overall this seems to be a good read.
February 4, 2024
Having trouble rating this one. Reading this was a bit exhausting to me, but there were some good parts. I began it for a spiritual direction class and then decided I may as well finish it.
I really had trouble getting past her lifting up Jonathan Edwards as an expert/leader in discernment… I have no interest in learning about discernment from someone who enslaved human beings. I wish she would have included a more diverse group of faith leaders and theologians. I felt like this was a missed opportunity to highlight the wisdom from people of faith who are part of marginalized groups. (For example, would have loved to see the inclusion of indigenous theologians in the section about “approaching discernment through nature.”)
I really had trouble getting past her lifting up Jonathan Edwards as an expert/leader in discernment… I have no interest in learning about discernment from someone who enslaved human beings. I wish she would have included a more diverse group of faith leaders and theologians. I felt like this was a missed opportunity to highlight the wisdom from people of faith who are part of marginalized groups. (For example, would have loved to see the inclusion of indigenous theologians in the section about “approaching discernment through nature.”)
December 27, 2024
I used this book many months ago to help me walk through one of the hardest decisions of my life. It was both helpful and devastating—in that the practices worked.
But I find the book to be so much more than “how to make a decision”!! Woven beautifully therein are the pulses of the heart that is turned to God in all things. What a treasure! She writes, “without a living, growing faith in the reality of God and the possibility of communication between God and humans, discernment makes no sense” (p 15). So, while she’s giving us wonderful guidelines / steps to walk through in our own decision making, she’s been weaving in this highly relational Father in ways that almost make discernment an afterthought. Mmmm…
But I find the book to be so much more than “how to make a decision”!! Woven beautifully therein are the pulses of the heart that is turned to God in all things. What a treasure! She writes, “without a living, growing faith in the reality of God and the possibility of communication between God and humans, discernment makes no sense” (p 15). So, while she’s giving us wonderful guidelines / steps to walk through in our own decision making, she’s been weaving in this highly relational Father in ways that almost make discernment an afterthought. Mmmm…
December 1, 2012
Stopped halfway through because the discernment is individualistic; if I could think/feel/pray my way through my question on my own, I wouldn't be seeking outside help. Her theology is pretty problematic for me in places, too.
September 3, 2012
If you need to read on book on spiritual discernment, this is it.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews