One of the best, most well rounded books on Christian spirituality I've ever read. Rather than simply covering spiritual disciplines like Richard Foster's "Celebration of Discipline" (which is totally valuable in a different way), this book covers the history of the practice of that spirituality that leads you to or from those practices. Foster gave me the how, but Webber deeply and thoroughly gave me the why.

As a Christian who grew up in a legalistic, fundamentalist, revivalistic restoration movement tradition (none of these are inheirantly bad words), I came into this book bound by the idea that spirituality came from myself and stretched to God, but this book has freed me from that prison and opened my eyes to see myself within God's Divine Embrace. Now when I come to God in prayer or other disciplines, I am not awaiting his opinion of my work that day, but am coming to Him as a loved Son entering His eternal community of love.

Incredible book. Would highly recommend, especially to other people raised in a faith like mine growing up.

Helpful history of Spirituality and what the Reformation and Modern eras have added/done to the search for Spiritual Formation. Challenging approach to God being the Subject and not the Object of our worship and formation. Worthy of your time and effort.

Webber's work is two-fold. He first provides an overview of historical development and then lays theological foundation for spiritual formation. Webber's explanations are worldview-shifting. Among noteworthy is the shift from me-centered spirituality to spirituality being a gift from God. As much as historical part is informative, theological part may benefit from some development. His key symbols look more like lists rather than a system of thought helpful for spiritual focus. Webber's work is helpful for someone who is thinking through the subject of spiritual formation.