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STREAMS OF LIVING WATER audiobook

  • By: Richard J. Foster
  • Narrator: Richard J. Foster
  • Category: Religion, Spirituality
  • Length: 3 hours 2 minutes
  • Publisher: HarperAudio
  • Publish date: July 19, 2005
  • Language: English
  • (2798 ratings)
(2798 ratings)
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STREAMS OF LIVING WATER Audiobook Summary

Helps us to understand what makes our Christian faith so rich and meaningful… Ted W. Engstrom, President Emeritus, World Vision

Richard J. Foster has touched countless lives with his spiritual classic, Celebration of Discipline, which has sold over one million copies since it was first published twenty years ago. Now, with Streams of Living Water, Foster again strengthens and enriches the spiritual lives of listeners everywhere with this unique exploration of the major traditions at the core of Christian practice.

In this landmark work, Foster examines these streams of living water – the six dimensions of faith and practice that define Christian tradition. He lifts up the enduring character of each tradition in the midst of constantly evolving faith and shows how a variety of practices, from individual study and retreat to disciplines of service and community, are all essential elements of growth and maturity.

Each of these great historical movements emphasizes a different aspect of life and faith. The six streams Foster presents are: the Contemplative, or prayer-filled life; the life of Holiness, or the virtuous life; the Charismatic, or Spirit-empowered life; the life of Social Justice, or the compassionate life; the Evangelical, or Word-centered life; and finally, the Incarnational, or sacramental life.

Foster examines the unique contributions of each of these traditions, and offers as examples the inspiring stories of faithful people whose own lives defined these streams.

In Streams of Living Water, Foster seeks a balanced path to a renewal of the spirit. He identifies the strengths and the weaknesses of each stream and offers practical ways to incorporate each of these spiritual dimensions into our daily lives – offering a clear and tangible path to authentic Christian experience. He reveals that while each stream is capable of providing spiritual growth, the most complete renewal can only come from combining the best from each tradition.

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STREAMS OF LIVING WATER Audiobook Narrator

Richard J. Foster is the narrator of STREAMS OF LIVING WATER audiobook that was written by Richard J. Foster

Richard J. Foster is the author of several bestselling books, including Celebration of Discipline, Streams of Living Water, Life with God, and Prayer, which was Christianity Today’s Book of the Year and the winner of the Gold Medallion Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. He is the founder of Renovare, an organization and a movement committed to the renewal of the church of Jesus Christ in all its multifaceted expressions, and the editor of The Life with God Bible.

About the Author(s) of STREAMS OF LIVING WATER

Richard J. Foster is the author of STREAMS OF LIVING WATER

STREAMS OF LIVING WATER Full Details

Narrator Richard J. Foster
Length 3 hours 2 minutes
Author Richard J. Foster
Category
Publisher HarperAudio
Release date July 19, 2005
ISBN 9780060859923

Subjects

The publisher of the STREAMS OF LIVING WATER is HarperAudio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Religion, Spirituality

Additional info

The publisher of the STREAMS OF LIVING WATER is HarperAudio. The imprint is HarperAudio. It is supplied by HarperAudio. The ISBN-13 is 9780060859923.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Janelle

June 19, 2008

This book is a wonderful introduction and summary of six streams or traditions that have influenced Christianity:*The Contemplative Tradition-the prayer filled life*The Holiness Tradition-the virtuous life*The Charismatic Tradition-the Spirit-empowered life*The Social Justice Tradition-the compassionate life*The Evangelical Tradition-the Word-centered life*The Incarnational Tradition-the sacramental lifeFoster does a wonderful job of presenting the best of what each tradition brings to the Church (universal body of believers across the world and across time, not the building on the corner) and the potential pitfalls of each one when it is practiced in isolation. Each chapter opens with a historical paradigm, telling the story of someone whose life exemplifies that tradition. Foster then moves on to present a Biblical paradigm, doing the same with an individual from Scripture, and a contemporary paradigm with an individual from the 20th century. These stories almost define the traditions on their own, but following them Foster moves into a more detailed description of what each tradition is, its major strengths, its potential perils and practical ways the reader can begin incorporating that tradition into his or her life. This is a wonderful read for Christians from any background. Although there will probably be one tradition that is more familiar than all the others, one primary influence in the reader's background, the beauty of all of these traditions is the way they work together--sharing their strengths and providing protection against the perils. When I read it, I found the exposure to different traditions brought my faith and the expression thereof to a deeper level and I gained new understanding and appreciation for the beautiful diversity of the Church.The two appendices included provide snapshots of turning points in church history, and brief (one paragraph) biographies of individuals whose lives reflect the various traditions (30-40 people for each one). These are a great starting point for further exploration!

Austin

August 16, 2020

Breaking up different spiritual movements is a class act for developing a holistic idea of the church. Foster proves to be a fantastic reporter on top of his own ability to write and conjure up ideas to spread. Unfortunately I just wanted to know EVERYTHING bout each movement listed, which left me wanting more from each description in the chapters. Another great one for sure.

Hannah

January 18, 2010

While this wasn't my favorite of the (two) books that I've read of Richard Foster so far, it--like his other writing--still has his wonderful writing style that always seems inspiring and transcendent. I find it hard to describe, but maybe it's best likened to fresh, warm, hearty bread, although it's less earthy than that, so not the perfect metaphor. However, it's similar in that it feels at once comforting and heartening, rich and wholesome, and too-soon finished. In this book, Foster discusses six "streams," or traditions, of Christian faith: contemplative, holiness, charismatic, social justice, evangelical, and incarnational. In order to more fully flesh out each, he gives us a vivid sketch of how Biblical personalities and then saints or Christians ancient and more contemporary have embodied these traditions in their lives. For me, I felt that his descriptions of these different personalities were more vivid and enduring than what I learned of the traditions themselves, though he detailed each one in a very clear, charitable manner. (I still can't quite nail down what holiness is/how it is different from the rest, but that's probably more of a reflection on me as a reader rather than on Foster as a writer). Reading through about the different people, though, made me both feel incredibly ignorant about church history (maybe even history in general). Luckily for people like me (or maybe not since I felt obligated to read it because of my cluelessness?), he included at the end a basic outline of church history, and then short paragraphs about many notable people who exemplified the traditions throughout history, which were informative and pretty well interesting considering the fact that it was basically like reading through an encyclopedia. Still, despite the revelation that I know so little about anything, I was also grateful to now be introduced to so many amazing people. Among the ones that particularly stuck out to me: St. Antony (Contemplative), who sold all that he had and went out into the Egyptian desert for twenty years to discover God. Foster tells about a few of the very vividly-detailed confrontations he had with demons/temptations, his miracles and healings, and his peace-making. I feel like I probably didn't know much about him since I know very little of saints and such having not grown up in the Catholic church, but was very... impressed, I guess you would say, at the supernatural character of his life.Frank Laubach: (Contemplative) As someone who's interested in adult literacy/education, I could hardly not be attracted to Laubach, who did absolutely incredible work: his "each one teach one" campaign to try to spread literacy all over the developing world, his forming the World Literacy Committee, and his work on developing ways to teach people to read in dozens of different countries and cultures is almost overwhelming. For me, the part that is almost even more amazing is that he did all this while (because of?) doing things like his "Game of Minutes," where he tried to have God in mind every minute of the day, and ora et labora, a manner of working while praying from the Benedictine monks that makes work a true collaboration with God.Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Holiness): The German professor, theologian, double agent who worked to assassinate Hitler, and then ultimately prisoner and martyr after the plot failed. He sought to truly follow Jesus, "[leading:] him to an uneasy pacifism: desiring to be obedient to the peace commandment of Jesus while at the same time standing in firm resistance to the tyranny of Hitler," and developing the concepts of costly vs. cheap grace: ""Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ"" vs. the cheap grace of ""the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession"" (or, I guess in my opinion, many of the things that the modern church is accused of being hypocritical for). He spoke out against the beginnings of mistreatment of Jewish people during their deportation in a way that is admirable in its boldness: ""An expulsion of the Jews from the West must necessarily bring with it the expulsion of Christ."" He insisted, in a speech that many of his colleagues were furious at and walked out on, that the Church has an obligation to all members of society whether they are Christians or not. Maybe he wasn't the first to develop this concept, but it also seems like he very much was aware of the idea of multiple histories/the history of the oppressed, and tried to structure his life accordingly, trying to ""see the great events of world history from below, from the perspective of the outcast, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed, the reviled--in short, from the perspective of those who suffer.""William Joseph Seymour (Charismatic): I pretty much had no idea what the Asuza Street revival was/why it was significant, so I didn't know that Seymour was the one who lead it. Seymour left his Southern beginnings as a self-educated man and went to California after a time working with a white preacher, only to start church meetings three times a day for several years in the early 1900s, with consistent crowds of 800 inside the building, and 400-500 outside. Most amazing, in a time when blacks and whites rarely mixed, Seymour--a black preacher--was drawing crowds of every race and social status and giving women authority roles, gathering huge amounts of people with no choir, no church organizing behind what he was doing, no offerings taken, and no advertising. Behind it all was his vision of love (the primary evidence of the Holy Spirit, rather than speaking in tongues, as later Pentecostals would make it) and of uniting one common family, undivided by race, gender, class, or nation.Dorothy Day (Social Justice): I had heard of her before and knew that the Catholic Worker movement grew from her, but had no idea how revolutionary she was in terms of campaigning for the poor, the homeless, and for workers, how she set up so many houses of hospitality to feed and give a place for the poor to sleep (but also to meet with them and truly know them and listen to them), and how she was an uncompromising pacifist, even after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Her bravery and willingness to serve perfect strangers and her unswerving commitment to what she believed in are astonishing.Dag Hammarskjold (Incarnational): Secretary-General of the United Nations who served for eight years and was killed in a plane crash in Africa, who "transformed the UN from a forum for conference and controversy into an agency of creative action for peace." He, like Frank Laubach, absolutely amazes me because despite being the Secretary-General of the UN, he had a very deep and rich spiritual life. Upon his death, his secretary found a 175-page book that he had written called "Markings" that is an in-depth exploration "with merciless scrutiny and absolute honesty" of his personal and spiritual state that never directly mentions anything about the UN or his professional life. After helping resolve the Suez Crisis, he wrote: "Your own efforts 'did not bring it to pass,' only God--but rejoice if God found a use for your efforts in his work." Wow.I feel very grateful to this book for again making me aware of the incredible richness there is in the lives of so many people who have gone on before, and I hope that it will help me to get around to reading some of their works. More than that, though, it has also been an inspiration and also, in a way, devotional: it is hard not to feel uplifted, thankful, and moved by these people, these acts, and these evidences of God's work in the world, especially in the beautiful way that Richard Foster describes them.

Kyle

June 17, 2022

Comprehensive, yet doesn’t aim to be exhaustive. This is a really good resource, “of saints - for saints.” The way I see it, it’s almost impossible for a book like this to get a 5/5 (at least from me), specifically because its scope is so broad, and yet the specifics can’t be divorced from the whole. It needs to be as comprehensive as it is, yet consistently falls into either “too much” or “too little” being said, almost like it can’t win.That being said, I think Foster nails it here as he usually does. You can really tell the sincerity and the intentionality he writes with, and I think discerning ears (like “the people” he prophesies of in the afterword) will delight in what this saint has to say.

Geoffrey

March 27, 2022

Such a great read! First, this book reminded me of the expansiveness of the kingdom of God. People within these traditions - drastically different as they are - all loved and worshipped the same Jesus, and each of their lives is a unique expression of that. Second, this book outlined the strengths and weaknesses of each tradition, which, especially concerning the Holiness Tradition, was helpful for me.

Caleb

May 19, 2020

I really enjoyed this book by Foster. I have always had a deep desire to see the body of Christ unified and this book helps paint the picture of how Jesus is in all of these streams and the danger of thinking your stream is the only "right" one. With many books, I may not agree with everything, but

Tim

August 17, 2020

Genuinely stunning book about the diversity of practice in God's Church. A body with many parts. It can be easy to feel like there's so much your not doing as a follower of Jesus, so much you have to learn. As Foster takes you through the 6 great streams of the faith, you get a glimpse that, although we are to care about all of them, and grow in each of them, we as people are only one part of the body. Be a really good ear, and celebrate and support those that are noses or arms. This is genuine unity in diversity.

Jeremy

June 30, 2013

In this book, Foster discusses the various traditions of the Christian Faith (Holiness, Evangelical, Social Justice, etc.). In each tradition, he discusses: how Jesus modeled the tradition, a timeline of prominent individuals and movements in the history of the tradition, a bio of a biblical, historical, and contemporary example of the tradition, the benefits and drawbacks of each tradition, and how to grow in each tradition.

Christina

May 19, 2021

Good historical review of six different traditions (or streams) within Christianity. The last chapter on the "Incarnational Stream" is not well done. When I'm feeling generous with Foster I say the last chapter is theologically sloppy (very sloppy!), and when I'm not feeling generous I say it's just plain old bad theology. But overall, the book is well worth the read.

Jeff

April 27, 2019

I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I started this book, but I'm glad I did. As the subtitle suggests, Streams examines "Essential practices from the six great traditions of Christian faith." What Richard Foster does is find a "historical paradigm," a "Biblical paradigm," and a "Contemporary paradigm." The book is over twenty years old, so the "contemporary" paradigms are sometimes pretty early in the twentieth century.The "six great traditions" as defined by Foster are as follows: The Contemplative Tradition: Discovering the Prayer-Filled Life; The Holiness Tradition: Discovering the Virtuous Life; The Charismatic Tradition: Discovering the Spirit-Empowered Life; The Social Justice Tradition: Discovering the Compassionate Life; The Evangelical Tradition: Discovering the Word-Centered Life; The Incarnational Tradition: Discovering the Sacramental Life.I won't go into each of the paradigms of each tradition, but to give you an example, in the Contemplative Tradition, the historical paradigm is Antony of Egypt, also known as Saint Antony, who lived from approximately 251-356 AD. He is known as the founder of the Desert Fathers and Mothers. Foster's choice for the Biblical paradigm was John the Apostle, and his choice for a contemporary paradigm was Frank C. Laubach. After each of the paradigms is presented, Foster then gives us some strengths and potential perils of each of the traditions, as well as some hints for practicing them in our own lives.For the most part, this is well-written and well-presented. One thing I didn't care for was the way in which Foster presented each of the historical paradigms. To me, it was a little silly, as he mildly attempted to disguise who he was writing about by using a lesser known name for the person. Of course, when I read books, I always check footnotes/endnotes, so I already knew who he was writing about before he finally "reveals" it. I didn't care for this little "game." Otherwise, I had no objections to the main text of the book.At the end of the book (approximately halfway through the pages of my edition), there are two appendices. Appendix A is "Critical Turning Points in Church History," and Appendix B is "Notable Figures and Significant Movements." The historical appendix is much more dry and was a bit hard to muddle through. I would rather read a book on church history than try to get a whirlwind tour of it in less than a hundred pages.In Appendix B, there is some good information, as there is about a paragraph of each of the people/movements represented. They are all presented alphabetically, for easy reference. It was a bit of a challenge to simply read straight through it, but I did. Because I'm stubborn that way.All in all, I find this to be a valuable work, especially for one who is not as well-versed in these "great traditions of Christian faith." Not only was it an enjoyable read, it is a great reference tool for the future. It would be quite simple to look someone up in the Appendix, and it would also be useful and simple to find information about any of the six traditions.Another thing I really liked was Foster's way of connecting all of the traditions. You see, none of these exist in their own sphere. They are all, in some way or another, interconnected. A well-rounded Christian life should include bits of all of them. For example, to attempt to be Charismatic without being Compassionate would be somewhat contradictory. Or to be Evangelistic without being Compassionate, as well. As one who used to feel comfortable identifying as an "evangelistic," I've seen way too much of that in our modern culture.

A.J.

April 10, 2021

Foster is doing wonderful work by aiding in the unity of the Church through educating different sects (or "streams) of their neighboring traditions. This is done through a brief biography of various figures that Foster believes best represents one of the six streams. This profile is then followed by a definition of the stream, focusing on certain themes, strengths, and potential perils. This book is a must read for any Christian with a high school reading level for the division of the Church today grieves our King's heart greatly. This book will help you grow in honoring other traditions and humbling seeing your own tradition in the light that is more objective. Key Terms/Phrases:- Streams- Liturgical- Charismatic- Evangelical- Contemplative- Holiness- Social Justice- Tradition

David

August 24, 2020

A fascinating book introducing the various streams of Christian tradition. For most Christians at least one or two of these emphases may be familiar, but to realize that others have the same core faith but different expressions of that faith can be very enlightening, even as one realizes that some of these traditions are at times at tension with other traditions, and that not all of the expressions of these traditions are valid. Foster, to his credit, points out some of the dangers of each tradition even as he also emphasizes their strengths. I would also encouraging reading Streams of Living Water alongside Foster's book of readings called 'Devotional Classics'; these help fill in the gaps and introduce readers to the primary materials of these traditions.

Charissa

December 10, 2021

Oh my, I am loving this book! Actually, that pretty much applies to everything I have ever picked up by Richard Foster. Streams of Living Water is full of insight, history, and wisdom from Christian writers through the ages. The author approaches each Christian tradition without judgment, providing background, examples, and assessments of strengths and weaknesses for groups and practices that often speak critically of each other. Foster has the maturity and breadth of view to see them all as necessary elements in the totality of the Christian expression. This book is a must-read for anyone who longs for unity among Christian brothers and sisters who are each endeavoring to serve Christ out of their own understandings, passions, and concerns.

Gene

June 06, 2018

I've been living closely with the material in this book for the past several months, but in fact, I've not been able to get it out of my mind since I was introduced to it several years ago in my seminary studies. My initial reaction to Foster's work has lingered in that time, circling as it has around some variety of the thought that "This makes so much sense!" And in fact, if you're looking for a fairly honest, comprehensive, but considerate explanation for why the church has so many seemingly disparate traditions, there are few better places to start than Streams. Though the Church and the world would deeply benefit from an updated edition, this book is close enough to five stars to rate it as such.

Steve

July 27, 2017

This was good in that it presented the idea of the particular traditions of the faith. Some were easier to understand than others but I found it useful. One complaint is he starts the book saying that God is bringing together the streams after years of their being isolated but he gives no evidence of it. We're to take it all on faith of his assertion. I would prefer that he pointed to specific instances where he was seeing it. But overall I thought it was a good book. I read it as part of a class I'm taking on the Traditions of Spiritual Formation. I wouldn't have known about or read it otherwise.

Will

May 31, 2020

I breezed through this book in only a few days. This is now one of my favorite books. I grew up entrenched in one of the six streams (Evangelical) and desperately needed a well-rounded look at some of the other streams out there that have all contributed many positive things to the greater body. Foster guides you through each one, giving biblical, ancient, and contemporary examples, and shows how a more holistic faith will draw from each of these traditions, since the founder of our faith (Jesus) is the source of each of those streams. A wonderful read and highly recommended.

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