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Simple Spirituality: Learning to See God in a Broken World | 
 enlarge | Author: Christopher L. Heuertz
Creator: Shane Claiborne
Publisher: IVP Books
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $10.20
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Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 64825
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 159
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 0830836217
Dewey Decimal Number: 248.4
EAN: 9780830836215
ASIN: 0830836217
Publication Date: July 2008
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Product Description
Chris Heuertz believes that any true path to spiritual sight ought to be simple. While he's not a contemplative and hardly a mystic, Chris has found, in the Bible and in his work with impoverished people, evidence of a simple spirituality. This way of humility, community, simplicity, submission and brokenness will help you see--no matter how dark things get.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 A Call to Simplicity October 19, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
American life today is increasingly cluttered. We live in a fast-paced society that claims the answer to our insatiable appetites is in the unfettered pursuit of more stuff. Unfortunately, the church has often become complicit in this lie, offering us tips to better our lives rather than grace that transforms our vision of reality.
No wonder that many are now issuing a call for simplicity - a spirituality that shuns the materialistic impulses of our culture and finds true satisfaction in the way of Jesus.
Simple Spirituality: Learning to See God in a Broken World (IVP, 2008) is written by Chris Heuertz, international director of Word Made Flesh, an organization that reaches out to the most vulnerable of the world's poor. In Simple Spirituality, Chris shares the insights he has gained while working with the poor and encourages the church to capture his vision of ministering to the less fortunate.
Shane Claiborne writes in the foreword:
"This is a book about a spirituality that leads us all to life - about how the poor need the rich and the rich need the poor, and how all of us are in need of God." (11)
In his call for a simple spirituality, Chris centers his book on five principles:
Humility
Community
Simplicity
Submission
Brokenness
Throughout his narrative, he speaks about how he has found Christ in the faces of the poor:
"As we look upon the faces of our friends who are poor, as we see the children, friends begging on the streets, and those in need, we are being confronted by Christ. He is placing before us an opportunity to love and serve him through the needs of the impoverished. He is offering an invitation to his community." (70)
There is much in this book that I relate too. I know what it is like to see people digging through your trash. Having ministered among the poorest of the Romanian Gypsies, I can identify with Chris' desire to wake the American church out of its slumber of complacency. Some of my most joyous times in Christian ministry have been with the poorest of the poor.
And yet, I differ from Chris in that I do not claim to have found Christ in the "poor" in some generic sense. I have seen the face of Christ in the Christian poor people that I have encountered - impoverished Christians who give out of their poverty to help other poor people.
For Chris, poverty=Christlikeness. I agree that we in the West can and should learn from the poor, but we should make a distinction here. As Christians, we see Jesus in our brothers and sisters - not merely in any poor person.
I appreciated the emphasis that Simple Spirituality places on the nature of unmerited grace. The poverty that Chris has witnessed has deepened his appreciation for grace - both receiving and showing it. But Chris never bases grace in the cross. Grace as unmerited favor is held in high esteem, and yet personal salvation and evangelism goes unmentioned.
The best chapter in Simple Spirituality is the one that calls us to simplicity. Christians would do well to read and implement Chris' insights in this chapter. As more and more people bow down to the idols of success, entertainment, and money, a return to simplicity in an effort to follow the way of Jesus is timely. I relate to Chris' difficulty in wrestling with the disparity of excess versus extreme poverty or the question of how to treat beggars.
Chris' chapter on power is the weakest. He does well to show the radical nature of power being focused through service, yet he fails to take biblical authority into account. At one point, he skips over a few biblical texts on submission and merely asserts a strong egalitarianism.
While the illustrations are memorable and much of Chris' advice helpful, Simple Spirituality is severely hampered by poor theology that leaves little room for the nature of true salvation. However, Chris is right to seek to wake us up to the realities of the world we live in. He writes:
"We want to let God in, but usually on our terms. We want to make room for Christ to reign on the thrones of our hearts, but only a clean Christ, who doesn't make a mess of our lives."
Absolutely. That's why Simple Spirituality, despite its many flaws, still serves as a good reminder that the way of Jesus is narrow, messy, and difficult - but its rewards are incalculable.
 Beautiful and Heartbreaking August 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I love this book for it's honesty and clear, simple message. Heuertz candidly shares heartbreaking stories of how his experience with the poor and broken have propelled him to contemplate spirituality in a new way. By doing so, he poetically gives a voice to those who are seemingly powerless in this world.
Clearly, Heuertz doesn't share these stories to focus on himself. There's no loud, boisterous qualities to this book. Simple Spiritually doesn't pontificate and Heuertz never mentions the words "relevant" or "emergent." I highly recommend this quiet, thoughtful and vulnerable book to anyone looking for a richer life experience.
Smple Spirituality July 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book was sent to us as a gift. We liked it so much we bought 10 more to give away to others. The author uses personal experiences and observations throughout the book, which helps to reinforce the ideas presented. It is an easy read, but you will be challenged to look at the world in a different way when you finish the book.
A needed challenge to the church. July 30, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Chris's book is a needed voice in the church today. It calls us to remember the poor as we find what it means to live a genuine Christian life. And he doesn't let himself or the church off the hook easily. He is honest with himself and invites the reader to be honest with themselves as well. It's challenging, causing the reader to rethink what the Christian life really can look like and pushes the reader to know who Jesus really is. It's one of those books that can be read again and again because it's lessons that we all struggle with and can continually grow in.
complicated simplicity July 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
heuertz has put his heart on the chopping block, given God the axe, and allowed a beautiful brokenness to be exposed. dare i say, rivaling greats like nouwen, vanier, and yancey, simple spirituality provides a powerful yet gentle glance into the true spirit of Jesus. there's really nothing simple about, except that it's simply a profound piece of writing.
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