The Dangers of Christian Practice, Lauren F. Winner
The Dangers of Christian Practice, Lauren F. Winner
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The Dangers of Christian Practice
On Wayward Gifts, Characteristic Damage, and Sin

Author: Lauren F. Winner

Narrator: Tavia Gilbert

Unabridged: 5 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/23/2018


Synopsis

Challenging the central place that "practices" have recently held in Christian theology, Lauren Winner explores the damages these practices have inflicted over the centuries.

Sometimes, beloved and treasured Christian practices go horrifyingly wrong, extending violence rather than promoting its healing. In this bracing book, Lauren Winner provocatively challenges the assumption that the church possesses a set of immaculate practices that will definitionally train Christians in virtue and that can't be answerable to their histories. Is there, for instance, an account of prayer that has anything useful to say about a slave-owning woman’s praying for her slaves' obedience? Is there a robustly theological account of the Eucharist that connects the Eucharist's goods to the sacrament's central role in medieval Christian murder of Jews?

Arguing that practices are deformed in ways that are characteristic of and intrinsic to the practices themselves, Winner proposes that the register in which Christians might best think about the Eucharist, prayer, and baptism is that of "damaged gift." Christians go on with these practices because, though blighted by sin, they remain gifts from God.

About Lauren F. Winner

Lauren F. Winner is associate professor of Christian spirituality at Duke Divinity School and the author of Wearing God: Clothing, Laughter, Fire, and Other Overlooked Ways of Meeting God. She lives in Durham, North Carolina.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Adam

Takeaway: Spiritual practices are not magic bullets. Over the past few years I have become a disciple of spiritual practices. I have a spiritual director. I regularly use the Book of Common Prayer. I really do think that the eucharist and baptism should be central to worship. This makes me the targe......more

Goodreads review by John

This book is so, so important. In recent Protestant theology, people have been speaking of religious practices like Communion, marriage, or contemplative prayer, as ways to reform issues within and outside of the Church. The trouble is that, as Winner demonstrates, practice does not make perfect. Some......more