The Promise of Winter: Quickening the Spirit on Ordinary Days and in Fallow Seasons

by Martin E. Marty, Micah Marty

Rather than looking ahead to spring, The Promise of Winter explores the signs of promise and presence found in the winter of the soul. For all who experience the disappointments, frustrations, doubts, and despair that are a part of daily life, this beautiful volume holds up the presence and promise of God. It is this presence and promise that provide spiritual strength to help people live during ordinary days and fallow seasons. Through its striking photographs of winter and reflective meditations on psalms, this volume leads readers on a journey through the heart's winter to the discovery of the God of all seasons.

112 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 1997

About the author

Martin E. Marty was an American religious scholar and historian known for his extensive work on religion in the United States. A Lutheran pastor before transitioning into academia, he became a leading voice in religious studies, particularly in the areas of American Protestantism, fundamentalism, and public religion. He was a longtime professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School, where he mentored numerous doctoral students and held the prestigious Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professorship.
Marty wrote or edited a book for nearly every year of his academic career, producing influential works such as Righteous Empire: The Protestant Experience in America, which won the National Book Award, and the five-volume Fundamentalism Project, co-edited with R. Scott Appleby. He was a prolific columnist for The Christian Century and wrote extensively on religion's role in American public life.
A recipient of numerous honors, including the National Humanities Medal and over 80 honorary doctorates, Marty also served as president of several academic societies and participated in U.S. presidential commissions. The Martin Marty Center for the Advanced Study of Religion at the University of Chicago was named in his honor.

Reviews

[Sophie Bishop · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice winter poems ☃️

[Debra Hale-Shelton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I interviewed the author, University of Chicago religion scholar Martin Marty in the late 1990s for the AP in Chicago. I later read this book as well as at least one other by him. His son, Michah Marty, did the excellent photographs for this slender book. Together, father and son offer spiritual thoughts for winter -- to some, a bleak time. The photographs leave the viewer not only looking but thinking. ... Good books don't have to be long or stilted.

[Alice Eberhart-wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lee and I read a page a day not realizing it could be used as daily Lenten reading, so I started over on Ash Wednesday. A book for those of us who love photography, metaphors, beautiful writing, and walking daily with God. Looking beyond daily events that may be difficult for finding hope and peace.

[Tom Helmick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wonderful and prayerful Winter companion.