Bøker av James M. Houston

These essays in this book are pastoral and scholarly, to encourage parents to nurture and foster Christian family life by learning from scripture and history. The Bible, in both testaments, offers us stories that provide moral and spiritual substance to the nurture of the child and the family. Beginning with the mythopoetic story of Adam and Eve, and the fratricide of Abel by the envy of Cain, the stories of the sacrifices parents made, then moving on to the stories of Abraham and Isaac, Ruth and her mother-in-law, Hannah and her son Samuel, Jeremiah the child prophet, these stories form our moral imaginations. Further, for Christians, they all augur the promise of the Incarnation, with the birth of Jesus to Mary and Joseph. Then through the history of the Church the role of the Child is further unfolded. It begins with Jesus teaching that to be as one of his disciples is to be a child. This is so radical that the subsequent churches have found it hard to follow. Perhaps one symbolic attempt was that of the monks' cowl which is a child's garment, and still worn in their monasteries. The book even explores the way that Christian maturity is one of childlikeness.

Are we ready for the opportunities and challenges facing the aging church?Now is the time for the church to offer ministry to its increasing numbers of seniors and to benefit from ministry they can offer. In this book James M. Houston and Michael Parker issue an urgent call to reconceive the place and part of the elderly and seniors in the local church congregation. Confronting the idea that the aging are mostly a burden on the church, they boldly address the moral issues related to caring for them, provide examples of successful care-giving programs and challenge the church to restore broken connections across the generations. Cowritten by a noted theologian and an expert in the fields of social work and gerontology, this interdisciplinary book assesses our current cultural context and the challenges and opportunities we face. The authors show us that seniors aren't the problem. They are the solution.

In these pages James M. Houston, one of the greatest spiritual mentors of our time, offers a thoughtful and surprising examination of what it means to be a true disciple of Christ. The Mentored Life is a stirring call to the church to become a community of friends and mentors, following the ultimate Mentor, Jesus Christ, who alone can mentor us into full personhood. "This challenging essay on being led to maturity in Christ is emphatically a book for chewing. Your readings, I promise you, will be time well spent, quite probably your most fruitful study time in years."- J. I. Packer "The Mentored Life is a penetrating analysis of the psychological and moral failure of contemporary individualism, and a cogent demonstration that personhood demands Christian discipleship. If Christian people are to bring God into their own lives and the lives of others, it is along the lines presented in this book." - Dallas Willard

To often, prayer seems only to be a dreary exercise that must be endured or a difficult skill that must be mastered. When we misunderstand its purpose and practice, we easily fall out of the habit of praying regularly. As a result, we miss one of the greatest opportunities to deepen our friendship with God. In Prayer: The Transforming Friendship, James Houston explores the transforming power of prayer, illustrating how prayer begins to change our lives and then how the way we live changes how we pray. Through clear and compelling examinations of the Scriptures, Dr. Houston shows the often-misunderstood spiritual realities of prayer. And through candid accounts of his own struggles to pray effectively, he will encourage you to engage boldly in the life-changing practice of intimate conversation with God. Dr. James M. Houston, a prolific author, editor, and Christian scholar, is the founding principal, former chancellor and emeritus professor of spiritual theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. A native of Scotland whose parents were missionaries to Spain, he is recognized around the world as a leader in educating laypeople for effective ministry and in helping to restore spirituality to evangelicalism. His other book include The Mentored Life, The Heart's Desire, and Joyful Exiles.

James Houston helps us trace the consequences of pursuing things that can never satisfy. He awakens in our hearts the true desire for an authentic relationship with God that alone can fulfill our soul's hunger.