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Life on the Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit
Many books--many fine books--have been published on the fruits of the Spirit. But none are quite like Life on the Vine. Philip Kenneson combines in this book rich, theologically grounded reflection on Christian life and practice with stunning analysis of contemporary culture. After a probing introductory chapter on the necessity and complexity of cultural analysis, Kenneson takes up each of the fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23. He explores what each fruit means in its biblical context, then investigates how key traits of late modern Western culture inhibit the development and ripening of each fruit. Life on the Vine is that rare book that will reward the reader on many levels. It may be read as a biblical and theological study, as an inspirational work on spirituality, as incisive cultural criticism and as a practical guide to Christian discipleship.
246 pages, Paperback
First published September 30, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
April 26, 2017
Just finished reading this in anticipation of a summer preaching/teaching series. It is quite good! It's a little dated now (1999), but the cultural analysis strikes me as particularly relevant and helpful- perhaps in some ways more so than when Kenneson was writing. The basic premise of the book is using the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5 as a way to engage in "cultural discernment" - asking: What kind of character is God trying to grow in the church? How can we cultivate this growth in the way we live together? And what kind of obstacles are present in our culture and world that make such growth difficult? As Kenneson says at the end, even if we disagree with his assessment and prescriptions, hopefully we can all agree this work of discerning the Spirits is the necessary and difficult work of the church in every time and place.
July 21, 2020
What an excellent book. Kenneson writes a reflection on the fruits of the Spirit, what they mean historically, why modern American culture makes it difficult to embrace them, and how to move to a place where the church and its member would more fully embody these spiritual gifts from God. He does a remarkable job in the nine body chapters of the book in opening up the meaning of the fruits biblically and how they might be lived today. He points to American cultural tendencies, especially of individualism, self-interest, consumerism, pride, and self-assertion, that makes living out the fruits difficult and their value easy to ignore (where are patience and gentleness valued today?). And he ends each chapter with a series of particularly pointed questions for reflection by individuals and churches. I appreciate his recognition that the life of the Spirit is lived in the body and the fruits of the Spirit are nurtured best in community.
Every discussion of a fruit reveals depths and also provides small, pointed revelations (why did his discussion of patience have to bring up driving?). He sees love as central and "these other eight dispositions, taken together, characterize a life lived in, by and through God's love." At the other end of the list, self-control is not so much a matter of willpower, as of allowing the Spirit to form the other eight fruits fully and thus displace the self from the center of our lives. But I rattle on. A thoughtful and incisive book that aims at the heart of the Christian faith - it answers important questions and asks even more important ones for each individual and community. Highly recommended.
Every discussion of a fruit reveals depths and also provides small, pointed revelations (why did his discussion of patience have to bring up driving?). He sees love as central and "these other eight dispositions, taken together, characterize a life lived in, by and through God's love." At the other end of the list, self-control is not so much a matter of willpower, as of allowing the Spirit to form the other eight fruits fully and thus displace the self from the center of our lives. But I rattle on. A thoughtful and incisive book that aims at the heart of the Christian faith - it answers important questions and asks even more important ones for each individual and community. Highly recommended.
September 6, 2017
My first encounter with Philip Kenneson’s writing was reading “Selling Out the Church: The Dangers of Church Marketing” in college. It completely flips the script on popular church growth patterns, exploring how they actually nurture a self-interested consumer mentality rather than conform the Church to unified oneness in Christ. So impactful it was that I framed my final paper for my Church Leadership class around its prophetic themes. I received an A+ for the paper, but the adjunct professor teaching the class (who was also pastoring his own “mega church” at the time) also commented “Your words are full of deceit.”
Growth within the Church or Christian life is a complex, ambiguous, and frequently disagreeable subject. The various dynamics of context, interpretation, personalities, philosophies, agendas, ambitions, trends, preferences, allegiances, and convictions blend together into such a chaos that it is often difficult for churches to discern who we are, where we are at, where we should be, and how we should even get there.
Soon after reading the book, however, the professor who recommended it, John Nugent, informed me that while this book explored what the church should try to avoid, it was Kenneson’s other book that examined what the Church should learn to practice. It has been several years, but I have finally got around to reading “Life on the Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community”.
I would highly recommend it. If you are a Christian who desires to grow in maturity while helping others do the same, or are a Church member or leader wanting to “grow” your church, this book provides a plethora of nutrition. To be clear, however, it’s not a “church growth” book. Really it’s the inverse of the notion.
While the book certainly focuses on the fruit of the Spirit, as well as other various Scriptural passages that help the themes unfold, it’s the setup of soil and surrounding scenery that really helps brings out the flavor. Instead of sticking with the term 'fruit', Kenneson introduces his discussion with the broader term 'culture', to help readers visualize the larger themes that are to be cultivated as the root-to-the-fruit life and mission of the Church. Not only does he use the term 'culture' to identify that which shall distinguish the Church, it is also used to identify the worldly obstacles the Church will encounter as they seek to cultivate such holy produce. I found this contrast to be very helpful. Not only does it emphasize how world culture has collectively undermined the integrity of human communities, but it also demonstrates how the Spirit’s culture, embodied through the Church, serves to restore it. 'Other-directed' is another term and idea Kenneson frequently employs to demonstrate how this is and can be done. A thoughtful glance at the Table of Contents may informatively whet the appetite for the sweet fruit this book aims to serve up.
As another inverse of the “church growth” genre, I would not call this a powerful book; at least not in the usual sense. It probably won’t rev you up or get your adrenaline going. Rather, it will slow everything down and invite you to humble contemplation so you can begin to notice the small, but significant tendencies that shape our everyday realities; the habits we just accept or assume are okay simply because they’re what we’re used to. By recognizing both these and what the Spirit is trying to sow in our lives, we can begin to nurture a more wholesome way of being.
Church growth is complex, but it is allowing the Spirit to sow His fruit in our collective lives and patterns that properly orders Christ’s life in us. It is the rooting that produces what is truly good.
Growth within the Church or Christian life is a complex, ambiguous, and frequently disagreeable subject. The various dynamics of context, interpretation, personalities, philosophies, agendas, ambitions, trends, preferences, allegiances, and convictions blend together into such a chaos that it is often difficult for churches to discern who we are, where we are at, where we should be, and how we should even get there.
Soon after reading the book, however, the professor who recommended it, John Nugent, informed me that while this book explored what the church should try to avoid, it was Kenneson’s other book that examined what the Church should learn to practice. It has been several years, but I have finally got around to reading “Life on the Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community”.
I would highly recommend it. If you are a Christian who desires to grow in maturity while helping others do the same, or are a Church member or leader wanting to “grow” your church, this book provides a plethora of nutrition. To be clear, however, it’s not a “church growth” book. Really it’s the inverse of the notion.
While the book certainly focuses on the fruit of the Spirit, as well as other various Scriptural passages that help the themes unfold, it’s the setup of soil and surrounding scenery that really helps brings out the flavor. Instead of sticking with the term 'fruit', Kenneson introduces his discussion with the broader term 'culture', to help readers visualize the larger themes that are to be cultivated as the root-to-the-fruit life and mission of the Church. Not only does he use the term 'culture' to identify that which shall distinguish the Church, it is also used to identify the worldly obstacles the Church will encounter as they seek to cultivate such holy produce. I found this contrast to be very helpful. Not only does it emphasize how world culture has collectively undermined the integrity of human communities, but it also demonstrates how the Spirit’s culture, embodied through the Church, serves to restore it. 'Other-directed' is another term and idea Kenneson frequently employs to demonstrate how this is and can be done. A thoughtful glance at the Table of Contents may informatively whet the appetite for the sweet fruit this book aims to serve up.
As another inverse of the “church growth” genre, I would not call this a powerful book; at least not in the usual sense. It probably won’t rev you up or get your adrenaline going. Rather, it will slow everything down and invite you to humble contemplation so you can begin to notice the small, but significant tendencies that shape our everyday realities; the habits we just accept or assume are okay simply because they’re what we’re used to. By recognizing both these and what the Spirit is trying to sow in our lives, we can begin to nurture a more wholesome way of being.
Church growth is complex, but it is allowing the Spirit to sow His fruit in our collective lives and patterns that properly orders Christ’s life in us. It is the rooting that produces what is truly good.
August 28, 2011
I enjoyed reading this book. I was going to say I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book however there were some low, boring, points—like “yea read this a million times before get on with it” parts—but not many, but I can still enthusiastically recommend this book to my friends. As expected a book to Christians on the fruits of the Spirit isn’t too controversially and has many points that are worthy of consideration. I say that to say it is difficult to select just four meaningful points to comment about or to prioritize these points according to what was most significant to me. Alternatively there are not many points of disagreement so I’ll start with the bad news first and then give you the good news.
The one point that I thought was week and I really disagreed with is his quote of Mother Theresa in the chapter on cultivating love. Here Kenneson is attempting to show that we, Christians, can love as God loves, in his words “to be other-directed.” In examining this issue he states: “With respect to the first question regarding the possibility, we would do well to heed the words of Mother Teresa, who echoes a theme that runs throughout the history of Christian thinking—that God does not command the impossible:
‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind.’ This is the commandment of the great God, and he cannot command the impossible. Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within the reach of every hand. Anyone may gather it and no limit is set.”
Dr. Kenneson has to be aware that Mother Teresa is quoting Pelagius, who was condemned for his heresy by the third ecumenical council in Ephesus in A.D. 431, when she says that God cannot command the impossible. Pelagius disagreed with Augustine over predestination and free will that has evolved into the current Armenian (semi-pelaginism) versus Calvinism (Augustinism) debate over this issue which Kenneson doesn’t even mention. He just glibly asserts that God cannot command the impossible so therefore it is obvious we can love as God loves which is a conclusion I’m not buying. I’d love to write more on this issue but my two sentences are up!
Okay now on to the good parts. The first thing that really hit me in the chest and is an issue I’ve struggled with in debates with my friends is how this culture of ours, this American culture, has affected how we think about what it means to be a Christian. Dr. Kenneson jumps into this issue from the beginning in the introduction and in the first chapter entitled “dying on the vine;” which gives a hint on how he thinks this culture has affected our thinking. In that chapter he ponders the question of how we narrate the story of our selves to others, by using narratives and a “hodgepodge of competing roles” to communicate who we are. The punch line is “where in all of this does one mention that one is a Christian? Why does it seem that this is somehow inappropriate to bring up unless one is asked about it specifically?”
Wow. I have to admit this use to be me. I wouldn’t mention the fact that I was a Christian unless someone brought up the subject or I guided the conversation to that direction. The past several years of my life I have noticed a progressive change in this habit however and now I am committed, when narrating the story of who I am, first and foremost I am a Christian, with no apologies (but with apologies in the apologetic sense).
The second good point is that the eight other virtues (other than love) “might best be understood as amplifying and further specifying what is entailed by this way of love.” This is the first time I have heard anyone summarize love like this. I have been pondering my entire Christian life about what does it mean to love, in a practical sense, and love the brethren even more. Now I have a path I can travel. His word is a light unto my path. Love is the fulfillment of the law of which I knew but the law mostly tells me what not to do. The fruits of the Spirit provide what I should do. Together they can truly show love.
On the third good point I’ve selected a subject that I believe helps us to know what it means to love the brethren more than the world: “One of the most precious gifts that God has given us is each other…Rather than see each other as gifts from God, we are often inclined to view each other as potential threats or competitors.” Cultivating kindness for the brethren is truly, I believe, one way to show the love of God to the world. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34,35). We have to overcome our society and the individualism it breeds and show kindness to those whom God has called to be His Chosen.
And the fourth and final good point is our concept of time and how our cultural concept of time adversely affects our patience. “Because we routinely view time as our own resource to ‘spend’ as we see fit, interruptions in our daily agenda are inevitably viewed as intrusions…Unfortunately, people now expect us to be stingy with our time, which is likely why they find it necessary to always apologize for ‘taking’ so much of our time. Isn’t that how we feel? That people have taken (stolen?) from us something that wasn’t theirs? Can we really hope to be patient with people as long as we believe that our time is our own? Can we really hope to be patient with people when all too often our assumption (even if unarticulated) is that people are unwelcome intrusions into our preplanned schedules?”
Obviously the answers to Dr. Kenneson’s rhetorical questions are no. No we can’t be patient with people if we view time as “ours.” Time is a gift from God and we have no time to not make time for other people, especially the brethren. Viewing time as a gift from God allows us to be patient with people, it allows us to show kindness to people and together allows us to love the brethren more. “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15,16). And no I didn’t plan this to work like this—the Spirit works in mysterious ways.
In summary the four good points are:
1. Being a Christian should be part of our story.
2. The eight other virtues amplify and further specify what love is.
3. The brethren are special gifts from God.
4. Patience’s is giving time to others.
And the one bad point is:
1. God does not command the impossible.
The one point that I thought was week and I really disagreed with is his quote of Mother Theresa in the chapter on cultivating love. Here Kenneson is attempting to show that we, Christians, can love as God loves, in his words “to be other-directed.” In examining this issue he states: “With respect to the first question regarding the possibility, we would do well to heed the words of Mother Teresa, who echoes a theme that runs throughout the history of Christian thinking—that God does not command the impossible:
‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind.’ This is the commandment of the great God, and he cannot command the impossible. Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within the reach of every hand. Anyone may gather it and no limit is set.”
Dr. Kenneson has to be aware that Mother Teresa is quoting Pelagius, who was condemned for his heresy by the third ecumenical council in Ephesus in A.D. 431, when she says that God cannot command the impossible. Pelagius disagreed with Augustine over predestination and free will that has evolved into the current Armenian (semi-pelaginism) versus Calvinism (Augustinism) debate over this issue which Kenneson doesn’t even mention. He just glibly asserts that God cannot command the impossible so therefore it is obvious we can love as God loves which is a conclusion I’m not buying. I’d love to write more on this issue but my two sentences are up!
Okay now on to the good parts. The first thing that really hit me in the chest and is an issue I’ve struggled with in debates with my friends is how this culture of ours, this American culture, has affected how we think about what it means to be a Christian. Dr. Kenneson jumps into this issue from the beginning in the introduction and in the first chapter entitled “dying on the vine;” which gives a hint on how he thinks this culture has affected our thinking. In that chapter he ponders the question of how we narrate the story of our selves to others, by using narratives and a “hodgepodge of competing roles” to communicate who we are. The punch line is “where in all of this does one mention that one is a Christian? Why does it seem that this is somehow inappropriate to bring up unless one is asked about it specifically?”
Wow. I have to admit this use to be me. I wouldn’t mention the fact that I was a Christian unless someone brought up the subject or I guided the conversation to that direction. The past several years of my life I have noticed a progressive change in this habit however and now I am committed, when narrating the story of who I am, first and foremost I am a Christian, with no apologies (but with apologies in the apologetic sense).
The second good point is that the eight other virtues (other than love) “might best be understood as amplifying and further specifying what is entailed by this way of love.” This is the first time I have heard anyone summarize love like this. I have been pondering my entire Christian life about what does it mean to love, in a practical sense, and love the brethren even more. Now I have a path I can travel. His word is a light unto my path. Love is the fulfillment of the law of which I knew but the law mostly tells me what not to do. The fruits of the Spirit provide what I should do. Together they can truly show love.
On the third good point I’ve selected a subject that I believe helps us to know what it means to love the brethren more than the world: “One of the most precious gifts that God has given us is each other…Rather than see each other as gifts from God, we are often inclined to view each other as potential threats or competitors.” Cultivating kindness for the brethren is truly, I believe, one way to show the love of God to the world. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34,35). We have to overcome our society and the individualism it breeds and show kindness to those whom God has called to be His Chosen.
And the fourth and final good point is our concept of time and how our cultural concept of time adversely affects our patience. “Because we routinely view time as our own resource to ‘spend’ as we see fit, interruptions in our daily agenda are inevitably viewed as intrusions…Unfortunately, people now expect us to be stingy with our time, which is likely why they find it necessary to always apologize for ‘taking’ so much of our time. Isn’t that how we feel? That people have taken (stolen?) from us something that wasn’t theirs? Can we really hope to be patient with people as long as we believe that our time is our own? Can we really hope to be patient with people when all too often our assumption (even if unarticulated) is that people are unwelcome intrusions into our preplanned schedules?”
Obviously the answers to Dr. Kenneson’s rhetorical questions are no. No we can’t be patient with people if we view time as “ours.” Time is a gift from God and we have no time to not make time for other people, especially the brethren. Viewing time as a gift from God allows us to be patient with people, it allows us to show kindness to people and together allows us to love the brethren more. “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15,16). And no I didn’t plan this to work like this—the Spirit works in mysterious ways.
In summary the four good points are:
1. Being a Christian should be part of our story.
2. The eight other virtues amplify and further specify what love is.
3. The brethren are special gifts from God.
4. Patience’s is giving time to others.
And the one bad point is:
1. God does not command the impossible.
November 27, 2017
Years ago I got to preach at a friend's baptism on a Sunday morning. His congregation was in the middle of a series on Kenneson's Life on the Vine. The pastor there sent me a copy of LotV's chapter on kindness. I think I missed the point of that chapter, but I remembered it as being a compelling read.
This past spring, my congregation spent some time dwelling in Jesus' "I am the true vine" discourse (Jn 15). We were exploring how we were "Rooted and Growing" in him. A season with LotV, reflecting on what the Spirit wants to grow in us seemed like a logical follow up. So that's where we went this fall. (Andy Crouch's Culture Making was another guide through this season.)
The first ch of LotV is worth the price of admission. Kenneson asks questions that poke where I and my congregation need to be prodded. If we are to judge by fruits, what's the health of our congregation?
I found the following nine chapters--one on each facet of the Spirit's fruit--a little hit or miss. LotV definitely reads like a book from the '90s, reading its cultural moment well (I suspect), but sounding dated twenty years later.
That said, Kenneson highlights some perennial interpretive decisions we need to make about Gal 5, as well as some obstacles to cultivating the Spirit's harvest that are just as relevant in 2017 as they were then.
I hope this is a book (and a series?) that I get to return to some day. Good stuff.
This past spring, my congregation spent some time dwelling in Jesus' "I am the true vine" discourse (Jn 15). We were exploring how we were "Rooted and Growing" in him. A season with LotV, reflecting on what the Spirit wants to grow in us seemed like a logical follow up. So that's where we went this fall. (Andy Crouch's Culture Making was another guide through this season.)
The first ch of LotV is worth the price of admission. Kenneson asks questions that poke where I and my congregation need to be prodded. If we are to judge by fruits, what's the health of our congregation?
I found the following nine chapters--one on each facet of the Spirit's fruit--a little hit or miss. LotV definitely reads like a book from the '90s, reading its cultural moment well (I suspect), but sounding dated twenty years later.
That said, Kenneson highlights some perennial interpretive decisions we need to make about Gal 5, as well as some obstacles to cultivating the Spirit's harvest that are just as relevant in 2017 as they were then.
I hope this is a book (and a series?) that I get to return to some day. Good stuff.
August 9, 2017
I vacillated between four and five stars, because this is an excellent little book. It is ideal for the Christian who wants to take his or her discipleship seriously and radically apart from the cultural influences that bear upon American Christianity. I would describe it as a Stanley Hauerwas book that is accessible for church small group use, and with more scriptural foundation than a Hauerwas book. My only complaint on that front is that Kenneson rarely reckons with the Old Testament and so is rather picky about the texts he uses to support his ideas. For instance, if the antonym of "gentleness" (the subject of chapter nine) is "anger," what do we do with the anger of the Psalmist or Jeremiah, not to mention the wrath of God in the OT? I think that chapter needs a bit more nuance. In addition, because Kenneson references so many biblical texts, an index of quoted scriptures would be helpful to the pastor looking for some sermon help. Though it's not perfect, the reader will find this book both challenging and healthy for the Christian life.
April 26, 2021
Kenneson makes good use of the theme of the vine as a core image of the vine in Bible writings. He tells us how the core themes of the Bible. He explains the need for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, genteelness, and self-control. Each chapter attends to draw the writer into these themes from a Christian perspective. References to Bible passages flow throughout book. Fortunately, these references take up several sentences from the Bible to put a anchor in almost every piece.
Each chapter ends with a number of strategies to understand the theme of the "vine" in believe and service. These passages help anchor the themes of the chapter, especially those who know the evangelical themes.
Each chapter ends with a number of strategies to understand the theme of the "vine" in believe and service. These passages help anchor the themes of the chapter, especially those who know the evangelical themes.
August 14, 2023
I found this book to be an incredible read concerning the Fruit of the Spirit. The author not only deals with the biblical construct and definition from a biblical context concerning each of the fruit of the Spirit, but he also gives the cultural tensions of these characteristics being lived out in current culture.
I highly recommend this book!
I highly recommend this book!
August 9, 2024
This book was required reading for my Christian Ethics course. The author discusses at length the fruits of the Spirit found in Paul’s letter to the Galatians 5:22-23. While the virtues found in this passage are discussed as being central to the Christian life, some of his suggestions for cultivating a particular fruit of the Spirit are impractical for a follower of Jesus living in today’s world. They would work if you’re living a monastic life according to the rules of St. Benedict.
August 30, 2017
Read this last fall, but forgot to add it to my list. This was a great resource when I preached on the fruits of the Spirit. I don't remember every tidbit, but I glanced through it and have a lot of stuff highlighted.
April 27, 2018
Arguably the best book I’ve read this year. Will read again.
Challenging. Relevant. Articulate.
Kenneson masterfully discusses the fruit of the spirit. His assessment is deeply biblical and wastes no words in his emphatic call to “other-directed” living.
Challenging. Relevant. Articulate.
Kenneson masterfully discusses the fruit of the spirit. His assessment is deeply biblical and wastes no words in his emphatic call to “other-directed” living.
November 11, 2019
Wow. C’était tellement bon. Ça date un peu, pourtant, son analyse de la culture est toujours pertinente et enrichissante.
April 29, 2020
A really solid book on the fruit of the Spirit. If you’re looking for a good balance of theological and practical in regards to Galatians 5 this is a great resource!
July 29, 2023
Overall I really appreciated Kenneson’s views on the fruit of the spirit and found the book to be very helpful for my sermon series. But it is quite dated at times and a very American perspective.
April 1, 2014
I was excited to read this book, having previously studied under Dr. Kenneson. It did not disappoint. Kenneson clearly teaches the biblical meaning of each of the fruit of the Spirit, discusses cultural roadblocks for developing these fruits, and provided both traditional and modern applications to begin to cultivate these fruit in our lives.
The best part of Kenneson's work is clearly his exegetical portion. Each fruit is delicately understood not only historically, but within its biblical context. This is no easy feat considering both the theological baggage associated with some terms, and the relative absence of other words from historical use.
My only wish is that Kenneson would update this book soon, as our culture has changed rapidly over the past two decades. I would love to hear his insights into how social media, the new sexual revolution, and many other aspects of post-modern society that may inhibit the growth of the fruit of the Spirit.
The best part of Kenneson's work is clearly his exegetical portion. Each fruit is delicately understood not only historically, but within its biblical context. This is no easy feat considering both the theological baggage associated with some terms, and the relative absence of other words from historical use.
My only wish is that Kenneson would update this book soon, as our culture has changed rapidly over the past two decades. I would love to hear his insights into how social media, the new sexual revolution, and many other aspects of post-modern society that may inhibit the growth of the fruit of the Spirit.
August 2, 2010
This is a fairly good resource on the fruit of the spirit. Sometimes a little dry and lengthy, the author still does a good job of setting the various fruits of the spirit in the context of scripture and challenging us to see how our culture and current expressions of Christian faith limit our ability to develop Christian character. The strength of this book is its exploration of how Christian community can function in development of the various fruits.
October 16, 2010
A wonderful revisit along the well-trod subject of the fruit of the Spirit. Though the author is not consistent with the gardening theme that he lays out in the introduction, each "fruit" is explored well not only theoretically, but also in how he addresses the obstacles to living faithfully and suggestion on how each fruit might be interpreted in our contemporary world. Good discussion questions at the end each chapter make this book ideal for group study.
December 27, 2016
Written with keen theological insight, Kenneson gives practical suggestions for discerning how our culture hinders development of the Fruit of the Spirit. I plan to use this to develop weekly discussion questions for small groups to go along with my upcoming sermon series on the Fruit or the Spirit.
July 3, 2016
I'm glad that we picked this book for our "theology" read! It was a little bit like a text book and wordy at times, but it contained a lot of wisdom and knowledge. The deep dive into each of the fruits was personally very inspiring for me!
September 12, 2009
I had a hard time getting into this book, but the more I read the better it became.
July 25, 2011
Read APR 2005
July 24, 2012
I am blessed to learn from this man on campus at Milligan.
March 6, 2013
This was a good book that looks at the meaning of the fruit of the Spirit, cultural hindrances, and practices for cultivating these fruits in our lives.
March 2, 2020
Great examination of the fruits of the spirit, and solid challenges to the current church.
October 10, 2016
Very thorough. This is an excellent resource on the Fruit of the Spirit.
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