Wednesday Giveaway — Awakening Faith: Daily Devotions from the Early Church

UPDATE 10/4/13: Steve Herreid is the winner of this weeks giveaway. He said he has learned from Augustine. Thanks to everyone who shared a comment! 

Timothy George, dean of Beason Divinity School, has identified a burgeoning problem within the American Church he calls the imperialism of the present or heresy of contemporaneity.

He observes that we modern sophisticates seem to think that anything from the past is out-dated, stale, and irrelevant. In fact, the past isn't so much something to be studied and appropriated as it is to be ignored and overcome. We think that the newest, latest, present ideas about God deserve to trump tradition, trump the historic Christian faith.

Such an attitude is displayed from both the left and the right.

Authors James Bell and Patrick Kelly hope to cure such an attitude in their new book, Awakening Faith: Daily Devotionals from the Early Church. Through 366 carefully selected devotionals written in modern English set next to inspiring Scripture passages, they are hoping to help recapture the historic Christian faith for our day in order to reawaken that faith and nurture it within you and your people.

Of course the Fathers of the Church are those men—yes, mostly men, though there were some prominent women, too—who were the key teachers and leaders of the first eight centuries of the Church. James and Patrick remind us that whether we're familiar with them or not, "we owe them a great debt." (7)

Theologians and pastors alike will be thankful that James and Patrick have managed to introduce the important early caretakers of the Christian faith through curated relevant, readable, Scripture-centric readings. They've done so using passages that exude those caretakers' commitment to personal piety, godly virtue, and Christlikeness.

"In the age of Twitter and Facebook, where glib sayings abound," Mark Galli, editor of Christianity Today, writes of this book, "one yearns to read some deeper wisdom about life and faith on a regular basis. Well, here you have it, a compendium of wisdom, devotion, and biblical insight from some of the most thoughtful and faithful Christians from the early eras of the church's history. And in Facebook sized posts. That's a nice change of pace!"

It is a nice change of pace, and we'd like to give you a chance to win a copy for yourself.

Enter the giveaway for a chance to win:

Comment below with your answer to this question:

What is one thing you've learned by reading or interacting with the early Church Fathers? From whom have you learned the most?

Get a bonus entry if you comment a second time, telling us you've shared a link to this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, or your blog.

PS—You might also be interested in reading a review of Mounce's new book, Greek for the Rest of Us.

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*If you are reading this via Facebook, email, or RSS, please visit the blog to enter. One winner will be determined by Random Integer Generator. Giveaway ends Thursday at 11:59 pm EDT. Due to international shipping costs, this giveaway is only open to contestants who reside in the US.*