Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices

Finding Our Way Again (The Return of the Ancient Practices), written by Brian McLaren, is an introduction to a multi-book series called The Ancient Practices Series.

This is the first book I have read by McLaren, and I'm still on the fence as to whether it will be my last. You see, I appreciated some of his views, but others I felt unsure about.

The book is about rediscovering our faith as a way of life, not simply as a system of belief. He talks briefly about Abrahamic practices such as fasting, fixed prayers, and etc., and how these ancient practices can be a common ground for all faiths. And like with all things, if we do not practice or make it a way of life, we can never grow. But, he does not go into any real in depth detail on them [ancient practices], perhaps to allow the other books in the series to talk about them more.

One thing I liked about the book was the gist of it was motivational and each chapter had "Spiritual Exercises" at the end of them. The questions were easy to answer, causing the reader to think, and they would be great for group readings.

But, I did not care for how he seemed to go all over the place with his anecdotes, and there were many places I had to re-read the passages again, because I had trouble concentrating on the point he was making.

The book overall was a decent read, but there were several things in it that I did not agree with him on. I suppose that's the way it goes though. I just had higher expectations of the book, and was left unsatisfied in the end.

Have you read it? What were your thoughts?

2 & 1/2 stars

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