Phyllis Tickle endorses my three latest books…
THE NEW MONASTIC
“Seductive in the way it draws us gently
into some of time’s deepest currents…a fine read”
Phyllis Tickle - Author, The Divine Hours former Religion Editor Publisher’s Weekly
The New Monastic is available through www.amazon.com etc
A gripping and fascinating book. A Great read. We love it. it!
Tony & Felicity Dale – Senior Editors – House2House Magazine
“…An important piece of work.
“Parker J Palmer – Educator and Author of Let Your Life Speak
A wonderful story.
Randall Neighbour – Director Touch Ministries
This is so fresh – unlike anything currently being published [in] the evangelical-charismatic world.
Richard Herkes CEO Kingsway Publications (UK partner to David C Cook)
Brilliant! Very well written. Very inspirational. I just loved the wide range of sources and inspirations…from all traditions and periods of history. Testimony to the quality of this ms: I knew from the first page that we were not the right publisher, yet I still read every page of it. I have NEVER done that before.
Robin Parry – Academic Editor – Paternoster UK
This guy can write! It is honest, funny, well-written…and interesting. Immensely readable and quite gripping.
Ali Hull – Authentic Media UK
Stirred me so deeply…
Cpt John Pilcher - Jetstar
NEWSFLASH
THE NEW MONASTIC is now available at Amazon as a Kindle book
Bessie Pereira’s review of Be Thou my Breastplate
Bessie Pereira is the National Director of OIKOS Australia
Paul introduces his book thus - “The ancient Celtic Christians had a uniquely powerful way of giving their lives to God. It was called the Breastplate Prayer (or Lorica). As the name implies, it was a prayer invoking God’s blessing and protection on the life of the one who prayed it. Symbolically the ancient Celts would use such a prayer to rededicate to God every part of their physical body and every aspect of their daily life. A few of these prayers, so loved by our spiritual ancestors, have survived to this day. One of the most powerful was the Breastplate of Fursa… Its author, Fursa, was an evangelist, church planter and founder of monastic communities in Ireland, England and France. History records that he penned these 11 brief lines of prayer some time in the early seventh century. Today his prayer is still powerful.”
The book has forty daily readings gradually taking us through the prayer. There are guides at the back of the book for group sharing and for a weekend retreat. I am looking forward to working my way through this book this coming Lent.
The Breastplate of Fursa
May the yoke of the Law of God be upon this shoulder,
The coming of the Holy Spirit on this head,
The sign of Christ on this forehead,
The hearing of the Holy Spirit in these ears,
The smelling of the Holy Spirit in this nose.
The vision that the people of heaven have be in these eyes,
The speech of the people of heaven in this mouth,
The work of the Church of God in these hands
The good of God and of neighbour in these feet.
May God dwell in this heart,
And this person belong entirely to God the Father.
“Incarnational prayer is central to Christian formation; and this serene, superb, little book is both a rich gift to the Church and a great assist in that endeavour…So worthy of any and every good thing I can say.” Phyllis Tickle - Compiler The Divine Hours and formerly Religion Editor - Publishers’ Weekly.
“I can’t praise it enough…my experience with Christ has deepened in fact I can honestly say that Jesus has truly stolen my heart.” Laura Ray McKinlay (Community Worker - Cork, Republic of Ireland)
See Also Bessie Pereira’s review of
THE NEW MONASTIC
published by OakTara
At the end of his new book The New Monastic Paul Wallis hopes that the story of his character Ben Anthony will “entertain and encourage you, praying especially that it will inspire fresh courage in anyone who feels they have paid a price for being as slow as Ben Anthony was in catching on to the exciting, earth-shattering, and church-changing call of today’s new monastic”.
Entertaining it certainly is….
The New Monastic is written in an engaging style that pulls you into the story….the unfolding transitions through which Ben Anthony battled and triumphed. Ben Anthony’s experiences as leader of a successful independent Pentecostal work sandwiched between significant stints in the Anglican Church as priest, were the backdrop to a roller coaster ride of triumph and trauma in which God fashioned him for His future.
He was profoundly influenced by monastics like Aidan and Hilda in Britain, John of the Cross and Teresa in Spain, Sophrony in Greece, John Climacus in Syria, and Benedict and Scholastica, Francis and Clare in Italy. His search, however, didn’t only lead him back into history, but also forward into radical movements in Britain and South America where he experienced present day examples of pledged church movements either on the edge or outside hierarchical structures. His experience in the Base Ecclesial Communities in Brazil had a deep affect on him.
At the end of the book are meditations based on each chapter in turn. These could be wonderfully used in groups, but also effectively for individual reflection. I found these very enjoyable (Yes - enjoyable! They were challenging also!)
I would encourage those who are interested in the reasons why these New Monastic movements are emerging in the Western world to read this book because it strikes at the root [through] the ground level realities that one person faced and the avenues that God used to draw him towards that which he discovered was also drawing many in our day.
I would encourage those who think that these monastics are withdrawing from the world, or that they are harking back to something that is outdated and irrelevant [to read this book.] Described in this book are the counter-cultural, Kingdom focused realities that these groups are living out as singles, marrieds, families and across age differences regardless of church background.
I would encourage home churches to read this book. Not only will it broaden one’s understanding of the wide scope of the ways of God in forming His church in our day, an appreciation of the ‘cloud of witnesses down through the ages, but also this book deals in an engaging way, the nitty-gritties of ways of church that will encourage many to move on from traditional ways of church towards a fresh approach.
This book comes with endorsements from Phyllis Tickle, well-known amongst New Monastics, and also Tony and Felicity Dale of House2House, well known to our OIKOS readers. Good work Paul. Congratulations from OIKOS.
