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Displaying items 6-10 of 14
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  1. thatjeffcarter was here
    Minnesota
    Age: 35-44
    Gender: male
    4 Stars Out Of 5
    January 5, 2011
    thatjeffcarter was here
    Minnesota
    Age: 35-44
    Gender: male
    Quality: 4
    Value: 5
    Meets Expectations: 5
    I didn't grow up in a liturgical denomination. My denomination doesn't have much use for the liturgy. So I'm mostly unfamiliar with the liturgical cycle. I don't know the appropriate colors for Lent. I don't know my feast days from my fast days; the only St. day I'm familiar with is St. Patrick's day and Ordinary Time sounds, to me, so very ... ordinary. So reading The Liturgical Year: the Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life by Joan Chittister has been a venture into unfamiliar territory.

    Let me give an example.

    Christmas - for me - has always come at the end of the year. And this makes a sort of obvious sense. The holiday comes toward the end of the last month of the civic and solar calendar. But for centuries the Christian Church has celebrated Advent and Christmas as the beginning of the year.

    Similarly, Sunday has always been a part of the week's end. We'd go to church on Sundays -at the end of a long weary week - to "recharge our spiritual batteries," as it were. But, like Advent, Sundays are the beginning of the week. Sunday (the little Easter) shouldn't the drooping and dragging end of a week but the joyful celebration of a new beginning. I've got things all together backwards.

    The liturgical calendar might seem like an arbitrary arrangement of feasts and celebrations, but it has been deliberately designed and over the centuries carefully refined as a subtle teacher, teaching by pattern and repetition the foundational truths of the Christian faith. Like Mr. Miyagi teaching Daniel karate with endlessly repeated tasks, the liturgical year - when purposefully and intelligently followed - can give strength and skills to our faith.

    the purpose of the liturgical year is to bring to life in us and around us, little by little, one layer of insight after another until we grow to full stature in the spiritual life. (pg. 21)

    Though most of the book has prompted me to further reading and to a deeper exploration of the lliturgical cycle, Chapter 32 on Marian Feasts was largely wasted on me. The Roman Catholic devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus, isn't something I'll be incorporating into the way I put the lliturgical year into practice.

    I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255
  2. markbraye
    Temiskaming Shores, Ontario, Canada
    Age: 25-34
    Gender: male
    4 Stars Out Of 5
    a guided tour through the liturgical year
    January 4, 2011
    markbraye
    Temiskaming Shores, Ontario, Canada
    Age: 25-34
    Gender: male
    Quality: 4
    Value: 4
    Meets Expectations: 4
    The Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister is a volume in The Ancient Practices Series by Thomas Nelson Publishers. it's a wonderfully written book.

    it's a theological text. Chittister explores the theological meaning and implications of the Christian calender and year.

    it's a historical study of the Liturgy and Liturgical year.

    it's an excellent book for devotions and spiritual reading.

    The Liturgical Year is also very practical and insightful, as well as being personal. it contains many biographical elements of Chittister's story and spiritual journey.

    The Liturgical Year is written from a Roman Catholic point of view and uses the Roman Catholic liturgical template and langauge. Joan Chittister is a Benedictine Sister of Erie, Pennsylvania. she is an internationally known speaker and award-winning author of more than thirty books.

    "Liturgical spirituality," writes Chittister, "is about learning to live an ordinary life extraordinarily well. Fidelity to the liturgical life is the cement that keeps us grounded in Jesus, no matter what other elements of life emerge to seduce us as the years go by." (The Liturgical Year, Joan Chittister, 179-180).

    all of us, Christians of all denominations, should read this book and take this tour of the liturgical uear from Sister Joan Chittister.
  3. Wagaboodles
    Minneapolis, MN
    Age: 35-44
    Gender: male
    4 Stars Out Of 5
    Living the Christian Year
    December 22, 2010
    Wagaboodles
    Minneapolis, MN
    Age: 35-44
    Gender: male
    Quality: 4
    Value: 4
    Meets Expectations: 4
    The Liturgical Year: The Spiraling Adventure of the Spiritual Life by Joan Chittister is part of The Ancient Practices series put together by Phyllis Tickle. Chittister approaches her look at the importance of the liturgical year from a Catholic perspective from which she was raised and ministers, yet she shows the benefit of the wisdom of the liturgical calendar for people of all denominations. I do wish, however, that she would explain some of the more "Catholic" terminology and how it might relate to non-Catholics (vigils, feasts, fasts, etc.).

    I appreciate the way Chittister looks at the cycles of the church year from historical perspectives (why do we celebrate Christmas when we do) as well as the spiritual tone of each celebration. She explains why each part of the church year is important for us to observe. The book also contains a helpful study guide. I look forward to reading more books from this series.

    Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."
  4. SafferSeven
    4 Stars Out Of 5
    Awesome
    December 17, 2010
    SafferSeven
    Quality: 4
    Value: 4
    Meets Expectations: 5
    The Liturgical Year is a book written by Joan Chittester about the church year. I was really excited to get this book as I grew up in a Protestant home where we did not observe the liturgical year. My interest in the church year has grown over the years and I've come to see true value in observing parts of it if not all. In her book Joan does an excellent job, in helping people who know little about the church year, explaining a basic history of how each of the celebrations, feast days, holy days, etc. have came to be and why they are meaningful.

    The book is especially helpful in understanding the season like Lent and Advent and then what type of mindset is best suited for those seasons. She sheds light on how these holidays are still as relevant today as what they were centuries ago and how we can use them to meld our lives to that of christ as we follow a year based on His life.

    I would recommend this book to anyone is looking to try something new, who is interested in, but doesn't know much about the liturgical year, and to anyone who is just looking for a good read.

    I received this book free from booksneeze in return for an honest, unbiased review. I did not have to give a positive review. You should check it out.
  5. Leah
    Michigan
    Age: 18-24
    Gender: female
    3 Stars Out Of 5
    The Liturgical Year
    May 14, 2011
    Leah
    Michigan
    Age: 18-24
    Gender: female
    Quality: 5
    Value: 4
    Meets Expectations: 3
    The Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister is a book that is exactly as the title describes. This book is set up to help the reader digest and learn about the liturgical year inside and out. Through reading this book I learned a lot of information that I didn't know before. Most of it I probably should have known. This book was interesting at first but then my interest slowly dissipated. However, I think this is because originally I didn't pick the book up to learn. I recommend you want to learn and take the time to read in depth before picking up this book. It was a very good read for me, in the end, and I do recommend it to anyone looking to know more about the Christian calendar, no matter what faith.
Displaying items 6-10 of 14
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