It was good to read about Jimmy Carter’s faith in Jesus.

i am convinced jimmy carter is one of the best all around people of this generation. living faith is an inspiring book about how a person should conduct him or herself in the face of trying times. the book has a lot of corny parts but president carter pulls off the message still. there's clearly a lot of scripture and verse in the text, but it doesn't read like he's pushing his particular religion. rather he honestly tells how his faith has continued to help him grow as a person. one can really learn from the message he sends here.

Interesting insight to Pres Carter's life through his faith .

Have always thought Mr. Carter was an underrated president. He has wisdom untapped. Reading his words sooth my soul.

I loved reading this book, although I sensed it to be drawn out & arduous at times!!!

This was the first biography where I learned there was such a thing as super passionate married Christians.

When he was 70 years old, Jimmy Carter decided to put some of his Sunday School lessons in a book. He had been teaching Sunday School all his adult life, and in the last decades, he taught a Sunday School class every week—open to the public—in his little church in Plains, Georgia. The room would be packed, mostly with visitors who had travelled to Plains just to attend his class.

In working with his editors, his original plan morphed from being a book of lessons to being a book about his own life and faith. Most of the material in the book was extracted from those lessons, but the 200+ page volume reads like a story, not a lecture.

Carter lived a remarkable life: born in Jim Crow Georgia, the son of a conservative, generous farmer—and a liberal, unpredictable, generous mother—Carter went on to excel in the Navy, a political career, and a post-presidency mission to help the poorest people in the world.

He could be stubborn, self-righteous, and humorless. But he was also humble, gracious, strong, and talented. True—there is plenty to dislike and criticize if you look for it and cut corners. But the more the years pass by, the better we are able to see and appreciate a unique man—who indeed put God first in his life, and struggled all his decades to grow in love for his neighbor. Long considered a “failed” president by politicians of both parties, historians are now reassessing his presidency and coming to very different understandings. While long respected for his post-presidency, people are now gaining new appreciation for his presidential years as well.

This book is filled with stories of people who taught Carter and influenced him along the way. He remembers always being in church, always having religion be part of his life. But his faith in God and his understanding of Christianity grew as Carter experienced new places, people, and situations. Living Faith is the record of his growth in learning to imitate the life of Jesus with authenticity and transparency.

We often like to talk about public figures behind their backs, spouting our shallow political and religious opinions based on mere scraps of quotes and misquotes. Our own lives are richer, however, if we let these famous people speak for themselves. We may still come away with the same opinions as before. But in Jimmy Carter’s case, we are likely to be enriched and changed ourselves by his testimony.

4.1/
First religious book I have ever read. It tackles about the living faith of James Carter since he was a child and how his family tremendously impacted him. Rosalyn, his wife, has also been a part of this story that fundamentally has played huge part of the times of successes and failures of his.

What I like to this are those interesting Scriptures that Carter incorporated in which he had interpreted and attempted to connect for every chapter. As a Catholic, I am not reading bible thus it is very compelling to witness some of it that are really powerful if you will give a time to think about it.

Exercpts of some of the lines that deeply-moved me:

“When I return to my beginnings, I see a number of times when I believed I wanted most was challenged by a more difficult path. When I had the courage to choose that path, even in the midst of despair and uncertainity, I was given a glimpse of deeper truths that continue to sustain me.“

“Faith means the betting of one's life upon the God in Jesus Christ,... the giving or commitment of one's whole life.“

“Love God, and the person in front us.“

“But we have to be something innovative; it is shame if we cannot think of anything to do.“

“All of us can have new and greater lives if we are willing to take a chance on something exciting and unpredictable“.


I have enjoyed reading this perhaps 3 weeks because of some reason. Nonetheless, an honor to be one of the guest of Mr. James Carter's life in which I presume is relatively full of meaning, significance, and purpose.

In some ways, I might have been more like Jimmy Carter if I had been President: meaning good, trying to keep my faith while honoring people, but not a strong leader and generally ineffective.

Carter states the purpose of this book is to explain in understandable terms how his life has been affected by Jesus’ words and actions. Also about how he tried to live up to these, sometimes falling short, sometimes coming close. I think of a President as being the height of a person's growth. I think Carter showed that growth continues to happen.

This book is more about the values which Carter cherishes, not only as President, but all through his life. He talks about how both faith and the military formed him. Also how he has changed as he understood both life, relationship, and God’s direction better. He talks about justice, peace, relationships, and trying to emulate what God would want him to do.

On the whole, it is a worthwhile book to read. His writing is not inspiring, but plain. At times it felt like I was wading through what he was trying to say. But it was well worthwhile once you understood his point. Read Living Faith and understand the man and his faith better.

For more of my notes and thoughts, please see my book blog.

Carter relates his interpretation of scripture to his personal life and issues facing society without being preachy.

I have a lot of respect for President Jimmy Carter, more for his continuing efforts towards world peace and his work with Habitat for Humanity than for anything else. I knew that he was a Christian, but I didn't really know much about his beliefs or his life. So I was pleased to find this audiobook in the library book sale.

While we don't share all the same beliefs, I really found so much to admire about Carter in this book. He hasn't always had an easy path in life. He talks about his decision to leave the Navy and his struggles in his early marriage. He also talks about his public life. It was fun to get an insider's look at what was going on.

My favorite line from the book is something another Christian said to him once. "In this life, you only have to love two people. One is God, and the other is the person in front of you."

I really enjoyed this. It was only one tape, so it was a very brief story, but I would recommend it.

"We don't understand how the radio receives signal but we believe it does and have faith in it. How is that any different from God?"

This book was full of so much wisdom that I know I will be looking back on.