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Fasting: Spiritual Freedom Beyond Our Appetites
"You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God." Matthew 5:6 The Message We live in hungry times. Ours is a consumer culture, predisposed to quickly fill the cravings of body and mind. The idea of fasting--the voluntary denial of something for a specific time, for a spiritual purpose--sets us immediately on edge. But Lynne Baab makes the case that anyone can fast. Fasting is an expression of freedom. Free from the patterns and habits that mark everyday life, from time to time we can move beyond our appetites into meaningful encounter with God. In Fasting you'll discover an ancient Christian practice that extends beyond giving up food to any regular activity in our contemporary lives. You'll see how taking a break from eating--or driving, or checking e-mail, or watching television--opens us up to discover new things about ourselves and God and the world around us. You'll see that while not everyone should forgo food, anyone can step out of routine to feed the soul. In a time of great spiritual hunger, God invites us all to a fellowship with the Creator of the universe, where all our truest needs are identified and attended to.
152 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 2006
15 people are currently reading
106 people want to read
About the author
Lynne M. Baab
29 books9 followersI was born in Washington, DC, and moved at 18 months to Athens, Greece. That would be the first of 12 moves in my first 15 years. My dad was in the military. Two of the few constants in my life were church attendance and reading.
As a kid I loved Nancy Drew, the Little House on the Prairie books, and the Moomin books by Tove Jansson. Probably my most favorite were the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. Betsy was so sure she would be a writer when she grew up, and I thought I'd like to do that too.
My writing career began in earnest at midlife. I've read a lot of biographies of writers, and they seem either to start young (like Georgette Heyer who wrote her first book as a teenager) or at midlife. I did write a couple magazine articles in my twenties and a couple more in my thirties, but I started focusing on writing in my late thirties.
It took me a year to write my first short story ("A Garden of Living Water," the title story in my collection of short stories published for kindle). in my late thirties, I wrote a handful of short stories, mostly focused on themes of "what am I going to be after being a stay at home mom"). In my early forties, I wrote four novels. I have recently published two of them for kindle ("Dead Sea" and "Deadly Murmurs").
I was 45 when I got my first book contract (for "Personality Type in Congregations"). More books followed every year or two after that. Every one of them is precious to me. Equally precious are the three Bible study guides I wrote, for which my husband, Dave, did the background research into each biblical passage. It was fun to work with him. My Bible study guides are "Sabbath," "Prayers of the New Testament," and "Prayers of the Old Testament."
My strongest selling books are "Sabbath Keeping" (which has been chosen to be a "book of the day" at the Urbana Conference December 2018), "Fasting," and "Personality Type in Congregation." My latest book focuses on Christian care, "Nurturing Hope." It's the first book I've ever been asked to write, and it's the "anchor volume" for a series of books on pastoral care.
Dave and I live in Seattle, and our two sons live here, too. One of them is married and the father of our beloved granddaughter. Our other son is a journalist with the Huffington Post, writing long and interesting articles using the pen name Michael Hobbes. It's easy to find his articles online because they are read by millions of readers. It is a thrill to have a writer son with such a big audience.
The topics of my books continue to be very real in my own life. I keep a weekly Sabbath, and I engage in a variety of Christian spiritual practices. I try to care for the people God puts in my path.
Thanks for reading my books. I am deeply aware of the privilege of being a writer, and writers depend on readers. Please visit my website where I blog every week: lynnebaab.com.
As a kid I loved Nancy Drew, the Little House on the Prairie books, and the Moomin books by Tove Jansson. Probably my most favorite were the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. Betsy was so sure she would be a writer when she grew up, and I thought I'd like to do that too.
My writing career began in earnest at midlife. I've read a lot of biographies of writers, and they seem either to start young (like Georgette Heyer who wrote her first book as a teenager) or at midlife. I did write a couple magazine articles in my twenties and a couple more in my thirties, but I started focusing on writing in my late thirties.
It took me a year to write my first short story ("A Garden of Living Water," the title story in my collection of short stories published for kindle). in my late thirties, I wrote a handful of short stories, mostly focused on themes of "what am I going to be after being a stay at home mom"). In my early forties, I wrote four novels. I have recently published two of them for kindle ("Dead Sea" and "Deadly Murmurs").
I was 45 when I got my first book contract (for "Personality Type in Congregations"). More books followed every year or two after that. Every one of them is precious to me. Equally precious are the three Bible study guides I wrote, for which my husband, Dave, did the background research into each biblical passage. It was fun to work with him. My Bible study guides are "Sabbath," "Prayers of the New Testament," and "Prayers of the Old Testament."
My strongest selling books are "Sabbath Keeping" (which has been chosen to be a "book of the day" at the Urbana Conference December 2018), "Fasting," and "Personality Type in Congregation." My latest book focuses on Christian care, "Nurturing Hope." It's the first book I've ever been asked to write, and it's the "anchor volume" for a series of books on pastoral care.
Dave and I live in Seattle, and our two sons live here, too. One of them is married and the father of our beloved granddaughter. Our other son is a journalist with the Huffington Post, writing long and interesting articles using the pen name Michael Hobbes. It's easy to find his articles online because they are read by millions of readers. It is a thrill to have a writer son with such a big audience.
The topics of my books continue to be very real in my own life. I keep a weekly Sabbath, and I engage in a variety of Christian spiritual practices. I try to care for the people God puts in my path.
Thanks for reading my books. I am deeply aware of the privilege of being a writer, and writers depend on readers. Please visit my website where I blog every week: lynnebaab.com.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 8, 2021
It took five months to finish 146 pages...oy. This book is a sort of quilt, with commonplace quotes through the centuries, biblical examples, and many quotes from everyday folk about their fasting practices. It was a helpful overview.
May 8, 2009
Fantastic book!! Fasting is a topic I didn't know much about (other than the fact that my highschool did 30 hour famines, but I didn't understand the motives or purpose). This book was well written and I soaked up the information! It made me examine my life to determine what should I fast from for a season in an effort for that thing to regain its proper priority in my life. It's a book that doesn't just make you think, it makes you want to DO what you read about! Highly recommended for anyone interested in the topic of Fasting!
August 6, 2012
I loved this book! Lots of other books I have read on fasting are difficult to read and don't offer a personal experience. Lynn offers her own experience on fasting, what she went through and how she overcame the physical and mental difficulties that fasting presents. This book challenged me. I have recommended it to many friends who have read and also been challenged by it. I loved that she offered both historical facts and scripture to support her writing. I borrowed this book but will purchase in the future for my own library.
March 6, 2015
I got a lot out of this book. Baab helpfully has a wider definition of fasting than not eating or drinking, which I think is most helpful for contemporary Christians (at least in America where we struggle with distractions, obsessions, and the spiritual dangers of "too much"!).
July 7, 2014
Practical and insightful advice, and well-researched background.
May 30, 2017
I wanted to like this book more than I did. I believe Tim Keller's "Prayer" book suggested this for further reading on fasting, and maybe that's what skewed my expectations. It really is an introduction to readers who have not read/heard/learned anything about fasting. While I respect Baab's effort here, I was anticipating a little bit more of a full-fleshed study rather than repeating the results of a world-wide survey to those who fast. The 150~ page book could have easily been complete with half that.
Granted, she was writing about a spiritual practice and those are always hard to teach without the student actually /doing/, so I do have to give her credit for coming up with what she did. I appreciate her clarifications on who should and shouldn't fast, and the pitfalls that can come alongside either decision if we are not careful. Definitely will reference to students, but I do not see myself returning to fact-check or refresh my memory.
Granted, she was writing about a spiritual practice and those are always hard to teach without the student actually /doing/, so I do have to give her credit for coming up with what she did. I appreciate her clarifications on who should and shouldn't fast, and the pitfalls that can come alongside either decision if we are not careful. Definitely will reference to students, but I do not see myself returning to fact-check or refresh my memory.
July 8, 2020
3.5 stars
February 6, 2021
Excellent!
Covers the subject matter in a relevant and helpful manner - excellent for a small group study.
Helpful resources listed at back of book.
Covers the subject matter in a relevant and helpful manner - excellent for a small group study.
Helpful resources listed at back of book.
March 13, 2023
Would be a good bible study book to use in a group. Covers a very broad view on fasting. Each chapter ends with a prayer and discussion questions.
January 7, 2022
While this book gives a decent sketch of the practice of fasting, it often doesn’t feel like much more than a collection of short stories/testimonies strung together, causing it to read a bit clunky. Additionally, feeling somewhat forced, there are random quotes about fasting strung throughout the sidebars. Unfortunately, the book did not connect with me as well as I had hoped.
March 9, 2013
This was a great introductory text to fasting as a spiritual discipline.
I have never learned much about fasting because American Christians just don't talk about it very often. It’s not a part of our culture, anymore, although it use to be. I think that should change--which is why I read this book! I had no idea that fasting was so prevalent among Christians in other countries. Now I know, and I want to make it a part of my regular faith-walk.
I learned a lot. This book covers briefly the history of fasting, biblical examples, several testimonies of different faiths (Catholic, Jewish & Christian), different ways of fasting, different motives for fasting, and different fruits of fasting. It also includes a nice list “for further reading” if one desires to study up on the practice.
I hope you will read this book! Baab does a wonderful job explaining all this and encouraging prayer, thought, and application. She does it all in such a readable manner, too! Very practical.
I have never learned much about fasting because American Christians just don't talk about it very often. It’s not a part of our culture, anymore, although it use to be. I think that should change--which is why I read this book! I had no idea that fasting was so prevalent among Christians in other countries. Now I know, and I want to make it a part of my regular faith-walk.
I learned a lot. This book covers briefly the history of fasting, biblical examples, several testimonies of different faiths (Catholic, Jewish & Christian), different ways of fasting, different motives for fasting, and different fruits of fasting. It also includes a nice list “for further reading” if one desires to study up on the practice.
I hope you will read this book! Baab does a wonderful job explaining all this and encouraging prayer, thought, and application. She does it all in such a readable manner, too! Very practical.
July 24, 2016
A self-help book on the topic of fasting, slanting from Christian spiritual practice viewpoint. The writing is competent yet much bogged in self-referential anecdotes, interspersing with various spiritual quotes and excerpts.
Fasting is a voluntary withdraw of normal patterns of eating for specific time. It is an exercise for willpower against indulgence, or as stepping-back from what is habitual. Appetite for food and things are common manifestations of human desire, hence it is always a good idea to occasionally re-examine our automatic habits and life patterns.
People fast for health, for losing weight, or for certain psycho-emotional objectives, or for spiritual reasons. This book has the merit to remind us that it is possible, at least for some people, fasting can be a mindful exercise to connect with one's spiritual life. By gently quieting down the riotous appetite and making room for contemplation, spiritual fasting adds a richer dimensions to our interior life.
Fasting is a voluntary withdraw of normal patterns of eating for specific time. It is an exercise for willpower against indulgence, or as stepping-back from what is habitual. Appetite for food and things are common manifestations of human desire, hence it is always a good idea to occasionally re-examine our automatic habits and life patterns.
People fast for health, for losing weight, or for certain psycho-emotional objectives, or for spiritual reasons. This book has the merit to remind us that it is possible, at least for some people, fasting can be a mindful exercise to connect with one's spiritual life. By gently quieting down the riotous appetite and making room for contemplation, spiritual fasting adds a richer dimensions to our interior life.
December 5, 2010
Lynne Baab employs a very positive approach to the spiritual discipline of fasting. She presents information from scripture, from church history, and from personal experiences to whet the reader's appetite to experience fasting. Baab takes fasting as an ancient discipline which was purely related to abstinence from food and encourages modernizing it by considering fasts from other things that can consume the modern life. I've begun reading another book on fasting that disagrees with this approach and feels that fasting has to be from food. I'm not yet sure what I think, but I suspect that abstaining from any of the multiple things that consume our time and resources and then using that time to pray and those resources to help others would be of benefit to each of us.
January 14, 2017
This book is full of practical ideas for a variety of ways to fast. The author gave biblical examples and then provided present day narratives. The narratives were of people who had similar struggles, fears, and concerns; this was so encouraging. I loved the rhythm of fasting and feasting!
From the last chapter: "Many people who fast say that they have learned something about feasting on Christ. When we remove the things we normally feast on, we are forced to draw near to God, the giver of every good gift (Jas 1:17), and learn how to experience the feast of goodness that lies in God alone."
"Fasting gives us freedom to feast... And feasting after a fast nurtures gratitude to God for all his gifts."
From the last chapter: "Many people who fast say that they have learned something about feasting on Christ. When we remove the things we normally feast on, we are forced to draw near to God, the giver of every good gift (Jas 1:17), and learn how to experience the feast of goodness that lies in God alone."
"Fasting gives us freedom to feast... And feasting after a fast nurtures gratitude to God for all his gifts."
October 11, 2011
This is a helpful, positive guide to fasting as a spiritual practice. But a key question to ask yourself is why you are fasting. If it is only to enhance your own spiritual experience (or perhaps to impress God or someone else) you're missing out.
In conjunction with this book, I'd recommend you read Fast Living by Scott C. Todd, which talks about why we fast, according to Isaiah 58: to share our food with the hungry, to help those in need.
In conjunction with this book, I'd recommend you read Fast Living by Scott C. Todd, which talks about why we fast, according to Isaiah 58: to share our food with the hungry, to help those in need.
January 12, 2011
I thought this was a thorough and accessible overview of Christian fasting - from the early days of Christianity to now, both food/water/juice fasts and fasts from other activities or media. It was encouraging and helpful, and showed well the benefits of fasting as well as the precautions that must be taken. A great read for anyone who'd like to learn more about this ancient discipline.
October 16, 2013
There were some interesting points and I liked it well enough, but I don't know. It felt a little bit repetitive and wasn't very intriguing to read. I also would have liked a little more research to have been done, but I understand she went more from the personal, this is how it works in these people's lives, point of view. It was alright.
July 1, 2015
Dit boek geeft helder weer wat er komt kijken bij vasten, welk doel het heeft en wat vasten je kost. Vele bijbelteksten worden behandeld, verschillende soorten vasten en handvatten voor persoonlijke toepassing. Wil je meer over dit onderwerp weten dan is het aan te bevelen dit boek te lezen.
December 21, 2007
Challenged me to develop a plan of fasting to maximize intimacy with God and power for Him.
January 31, 2008
It had some interesting points, but I ended up skimming a bunch of it.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews