Ruth Haley BartonReviews

Practical insight into the biblical argument for sabbath and how to incorporate it into our modern lives. Sabbatical doesn't get as deep of an exploration but is still discussed.

Better than the bible

A very good book, if you’re a Christian this is a must have, it talks a lot about the sabbath. Something that should be talked about more. The understanding of the sabbath.

It's a topic that is becoming more popular and with good reason. The author deals with how rest is a necessary rhythms in our lives. I am still reading it, so final verdict will come soon.

EMBRACING RHYTHMS OF WORK AND REST...FROM SABBATH TO SABBATICAL AND BACK AGAIN by Ruth Haley Barton

This was a difficult book to read. The sentence structure was sometimes difficult to follow. The subject is interesting and informative. However, trying to follow the sabbath plan set forth in this plan is sometimes difficult to follow.
I would recommend this book as a self-help book. The content is interesting. I would give this book 3 stars.

Ruth Haley Barton's latest work, Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest, delves into the timeless tradition of the Sabbath and skillfully relates it to our contemporary world, emphasizing its connection to God. Through poignant anecdotes drawn from her personal experiences, Barton artfully conveys the profound delight that the Sabbath embodies in the pages of Scripture. Furthermore, she offers a pragmatic roadmap for reclaiming the invaluable gift of rest, not only on an individual level but also within our wider communities. With her insightful and accessible approach, Barton's book becomes a compelling guide for anyone seeking to rediscover the transformative power of Sabbath practices.

I only gave it two stars for the simple reason that the author is referring to a Sabbath not sanctioned by Christ Jesus or the 4th Commandment.
The content is interesting and a person could benefit from reading it. Although it is adhered to by some Protestant churches, its celebration of Sunday worship was originated by the Roman Catholic Church in honor of the Lord's Ressurection, so they say, and to appease pagans of their Sun-day worship.
Again, let me just say that the true 7th-day Sabbath is a special delight.

This was wonderful. I learned a lot about the Sabbath from this thoughtful book, and I was often prompted to reflect on things I'd never thought about before. Some parts of the book are geared toward church leaders, and I'm not a church leader, but I still gained lots of helpful insights into the meaning and purpose of the Sabbath, and I learned ways to incorporate life-giving Sabbath practices into my own life. The author encourages readers to be gentle with themselves and each other as they begin practicing Sabbath and to avoid being legalistic. Reading this book equipped me with practical ways to practice Sabbath each week.

I was both surprised and encouraged with Embracing Rhythms of work and rest. A must read for those trying to find not only a much needed break in life but also a deeper spiritually connection. We have used this book as a weekly study group. There are easy to follow questions and guides at the end of each chapter. I even did a sermon on with the topics in the book. Filled with real life stories and Biblically references it is a much read for all looking to rest on the Sabbath.

Received as part of LibraryThing Early Reviewer. Really enjoyed the book, the author was engaging and the reflection questions were really helpful. She offered good advice for any Christian trying to add Sabbath rest into their weekly routine.
Definitely recommend for anyone planning to take a Sabbatical.

When I signed up to receive this book, I didn't realize it was focused on Church Leaders/Pastors. I didn't realize it until about 1/2 way through the book! There is a section that outlines how churches are the enemy of practicing sabbath. After church services there are many activities that go against the resting of sabbath.
The good news is that is sandwiched between more general personal approaches to sabbath that applies to church leaders and non-church leaders.
I was hopeful when I read that the author had bene practicing for 20 years, so she must know a few tips! The last part of the book outlines some specific ways to look at sabbath practice in your own life.
Although I would recommend this book for church leaders, it is worth the read for an average person who is looking to build a sabbath practice.

I won this book in exchange for my honest review. I will say the author did a good job, I was able to start clearing my head and put God first but make some positive changes in my life.

This book is a well researched logistical , and spiritual journey into the many reasons to embrace the practice of the sabbath.

Summary: Describes the journey to life-giving sabbath practices as well as planning for and taking sabbaticals.

Ruth Haley Barton is a gifted speaker, writer, and Christian leader. And like many such people she pushed herself hard in a high-performance church culture and later as leader of her own ministry organization. She enjoyed reading books about sabbath, but that was for other people. Until she was in a bike accident. And she realized that God had given her a harder nudge that it was time to begin a journey of sabbath practice.

This book describes that journey and a further one of taking sabbaticals–extended sabbaths allowing a longer period of rest and transformation. She discovered that sabbath began with God, who wove rest into the fabric of creation with his own rhythm of six days of work, and then rest. Sabbath is participating in the rest that is already there, that we work and rest in rhythm with God. Sabbath is also an act of resistance. It was for the Hebrew ex-slaves who always had to work for Pharaoh. It is as well in our 24/7 culture.

Sabbath was meant as a community practice, enjoyed and shared together. We often try to figure this out for ourselves, and one of the unique contributions of this book is that it casts vision for churches and other communities to share in sabbath practice. She gives practical help in leading that culture change process, beginning with oneself, other leaders, and the congregation. She speaks of “no emergencies with God” and allowing the process of communal sabbath-keeping to take the time it needs. The book includes an appendix with a discussion guide for church leaders to use.

She addresses unplugging from our technology, acknowledging the hold it has on us, and ways we may be more present to God and each other when we include “unplugging” in our sabbath practice. She shares with us her delight in sabbath, particularly in just having time to “putz” around. It’s a time to be free to be neighborly, to allow the accumulated emotions of the week to bubble to the service, and to bring them to God without self-numbing. She speaks of sabbath in different seasons of life, as a student, with families, caring for parents. Then she pulls this together in helping us shape our sabbath practice.

There are times when sabbath is not enough. But the good news is that sabbath prepares us for sabbatical, for extended periods of rest. She addresses the temptation to be “productive” during sabbaticals and encourages beginning to plan a sabbatical by listening to what one’s soul is trying to say to God and ourselves about our longings for this time. She shares her own sabbatical journey–during a pandemic–and offers practical helps on how to plan a sabbatical and an appendix on re-entry from one. One of the basic insights that everyone I know affirms is that you don’t know how tired you are until the first weeks of a sabbatical and the importance of making allowance for this.

It is obvious that Ruth Haley Barton has “put her own mask on first” before trying to help us. Her delight in sabbath and rich experience of sabbath invite the reader to consider these for oneself. Sabbath and sabbatical are shared as gifts rather than obligations and burdens, practices that keep us even more than we keep them. Perhaps more, the language of embrace suggests sabbath as a welcome friend, or even a reminder that as we rest and trust, that the Lover of our Soul will embrace and hold and refresh us.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.

Summary: A six week Lenten devotional consisting of brief excerpts from works by InterVarsity Press authors, scripture readings, and breath prayers, considering how, in the passion of Christ, we lament the injustices of the world, find healing in the redemptive work of Christ, and enter into Christ’s heart for justice for the oppressed.

Lent is a season of fasting (except on Sundays), where we begin by remembering that we will die, we lament our sins and those of the world and the impact of these on others. It is a time of repentance and drawing close again to Christ, walking in the way of his passion and anticipating the hope of Easter Sunday. For many, some form of Lenten devotional reading is a part of their practices from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday, the forty days of Lent.

A Just Passion follows in that tradition, offering readings for the forty days of Lent (Sundays excepted because Sunday is a feast and not fast day). The readings are drawn from the writings of InterVarsity Press authors, each reading of two short pages of reading. Among those included are Ruth Haley Barton, Tish Harrison, Warren, Eugene Peterson, Esau McCaulley, Sheila Wise Rowe, Dominique DuBois Gilliard, John Perkins, Tara Beth Leach, and Soong-Chan Rah, just to give you a sense of the stellar lineup represented here.

Also included in each week’s readings are a lectionary reading drawn from the First Nations Version of the New Testament, an English translation for indigenous peoples of North America, whose lead translator is Terry M. Wildman. One day each week includes a “breath prayer” in which we breathe in a short invitation or supplication to God and breathe out a line of response or release. For example, the breath prayer of week one is (breathe in)”Blessed are those who hunger” and (breathe out) “They will be filled.”

The readings focus on the inextricable link between the passion of Jesus and the pursuit of justice. They begin with Tish Harrison Warren reminding us that on Ash Wednesday, the ashes are to remind us that we are dust, that we die, and to hold on to what is real. John Perkins reminds us that Jesus was love incarnate, a mission of reconciliation his son Spencer died pursuing, and that he continues in West Jackson. Mark E. Strong tells the story of a young boy who has nothing for the offering and climbs into the basket, offering himself, which is truly the living worship of every Christ follower. Bethany H. Hoang, director of International Justice Mission, speaks of the exhausting work of fighting injustice, work that only can be sustained if begun in prayer. Christ outpoured in our lives is the beginning of our pursuit of justice.

Each reading gives the author and book from which it is sourced and an index by days gives more complete publication information. Not only is this a wonderful “sampler” of the authors who write for InterVarsity Press, this is a well-conceived and substantive collection that helps us enter into Christ’s passion while calling us into the pursuit of justice. Vice President of InterVarsity Press Cindy Bunch introduces the collection, offering specific practices we might consider in the pursuit of justice. If you are still looking for a Lenten devotional, this one is well worth your consideration.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.

A great read on the internal life of a leader. Barton uses the life of Moses to point out areas of struggle and weakness that God wants to strengthen in the developing not just a leader but a person for His purposes. Excellent read!

Sacred Rhythms is a breath of fresh air. Ruth Haley Barton discusses several spiritual disciples that we should be intentional to incorporate into our lives out of the overflow of our desire for God not as a duty. This read was refreshing and definitely drew me in deeper in my relationship with Jesus. - Traci Crowder

Very tiimely read during social distancing to slow down and meditate on God and his word. This book walks yout through ways to reset your innner spritual life in order to live a more fulfilling and enjoyable life. WOuld very much recomend if you are dealing with burn out or consistently feeling overwhelmed. - Josh Moon

A disappointingly unchallenging and shallow reexamination of community. The author seems to have been both very privileged and while she presents her own journey from a meritless inherited view to a better one, her final destination wasn't inspiring or challenging to me. This book might help people who have no sense of Christian community develop something resembling it, but it doesn't begin to resemble to ideal model of community that was modeled by Christ.

Great. Practical. Idealistic. If there's a flaw, it's that idealism and being left with the knowledge of how far there is between the way I share leadership in the churches I pastor and the way which this book lifts up. But even her advice is to start with one piece and go from there. I'm motivated.

Summary: A guide to retreat as a spiritual practice exploring why retreat, preparing for retreat, helpful practices on retreat, and concluding our retreat and returning from (and to) retreat.

Jesus gives a startling invitation to his disciples in Mark 6:30-31. He said, "Come away to a deserted place...and rest a while." Wouldn't you love an invitation like that? Ruth Haley Barton proposes in this book that this is an invitation Jesus extends to each and every one of us. She encourages us to embrace retreat as a formational practice. She explains what she means as follows:

"Retreat in the context of the spiritual life is an extended time apart for the purpose of being with God and giving God our full and undivided attention; it is, as Emilie Griffin puts it, “a generous commitment to our friendship with God.” The emphasis is on the words extended and generous. Truth is, we are not always generous with ourselves where God is concerned. Many of us have done well to incorporate regular times of solitude and silence into the rhythm of our ordinary lives, which means we’ve gotten pretty good at giving God twenty minutes here and half an hour there. And there’s no question we are better for it!

But many of us are longing for more—and we have a sense that there is more if we could create more space for quiet to give attention to God at the center of our beings. We sense that a kind of fullness and satisfaction is discovered more in the silence than in the words, more in solitude than in socializing, more in spaciousness than in busyness. “Times come,” Emilie Griffin goes on to say, “when we yearn for more of God than our schedules will allow. We are tired, we are crushed, we are crowded by friends and acquaintances, commitments and obligations. The life of grace is abounding, but we are too busy for it. Even good obligations begin to hem us in."

Barton goes on in this book to offer extensive practical help in various aspects of taking retreats, from preparing to retreat and facing our exhaustion (including encouraging us to sleep until we naturally awaken on retreat if possible). She addresses the rhythms of retreat and even offers a suggested daily schedule. She gives help on prayer during the retreat including fixed hour prayers. She addresses the challenge of letting go, unplugging and the deeper issue of relinquishing our false-self patterns. For those familiar with the Enneagram, she suggests particular false-self patterns we may relinquish for each Enneagram type. She discusses the chance retreat gives us for discernment, for paying attention to our life situation and how God may be leading. There is practical help for re-entering our lives.

Throughout, Barton relates personal experiences in retreat, discussions with spiritual directors, insights as she reflects on scriptures, her own practices, including taking time to exercise during retreats (something I'm inclined to forget!), and some of her personal compulsions and how retreat has been an important factor in God's transformative work in her life. Each chapter concludes with a "Practicing Retreat" page with questions we may use in preparing for or engaging in our retreat. Three "interludes" break up the content with poetry for reflection and prayer. Appendices offer a form of fixed hour prayers and practical considerations such as choosing a retreat location, our intention, and even what to pack.

This is a slim book is full of wisdom and practical insights like the following:

"Many of us are wasting our life's energy fighting for things that aren't that important in the whole scheme of things. There are times when the quiet of retreat is the only way we will be able to discern well what battle we should be engaging and how."

As I husband energies that wane with age, I can't afford to waste them on unimportant battles. Mercifully, Jesus invites me to come away with Him. Barton's book reminded me of that pending invitation. It is one I will turn to as I prepare for retreat. And its convenient size makes it the perfect book to pack, to hold, to use in reflection, on retreat.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Ruth Haley Barton is well established as an author of Christian spirituality. I have read and found beneficial her Invitation to Solitude and Silence and Sacred Rhythms: Arranging our Lives for Spiritual Transformation. The former, explores the importance of practicing silence as a spiritual discipline while the latter examines eight spiritual practices that help people press deeper into faith in God. Barton draws on the insights of the broad Christian tradition, but her writings is palatable for an evangelical audience.

Though I had read and enjoyed Barton before, I wasn't prepared to like Life Together in Christ: Experiencing Transformation in Community as much as much as I did. My standing critique of many books on spiritual disciplines is how they appeal to an individualistic, consumer mindset and apply it to the realm of spirituality (if this doesn't work, try another discipline. . .). Barton made strides in Sacred Rhythms to address this attitude, but Life Together in Christ is a more developed, mature reflection on the nature of Spiritual practice.

Barton frames her exploration of communal spiritual transformation through one of the Jesus' most evocative post-resurrection appearances. In Luke 24: 13-35 we hear the story of Cleopas and his companion, despondent on their trek home from Jerusalem after Jesus was crucified. They are met on their way by a stranger who listens to them and explains to them, from the scriptures, why the Son of Man would suffer. When they reach the end of their journey, they invite him home for dinner and discover in the dinner grace that Jesus himself was their travelling companion.

Barton turns over the words of this story and reflects on nine communal practices and characteristics which enable and encourage spiritual transformation. These are:

• Choosing to walk together


• Welcoming the stranger


• Choosing to listen and not fix


• Gathering on the basis of shared desire


• The place of men and women in community


• The cruciform nature of the spiritual journey


• Locating our own stories in Jesus' story


• Discerning the presence of Christ in our midst


• Bearing witness to what we have seen and heard

Barton is an astute reader of the text, but this isn't a purely exegetical treatment (more of a sustained Lectio Divina). She finds in this story some great segues to the nature of the spiritual life in community. I appreciate her insights into spirituality. I also like that they way these chapters are crafted and set up, to sit down and read it cover to cover by yourself (as I did) is the absolutely wrong way of doing it. Barton is not naive about the difficulties, letdowns, betrayals and disappointments that happen in real-life Christian communities, but she is cognizant that to live the Christian faith we are a part of the church--God's kingdom people. Her words hone in on how to be God's people (and God's presence) for one another.

My favorite part of the book was her explanation of the nature of the spiritual journey, or in her words, "the paschal rhythm of death, burial and resurrection as the essential rhythm of the spiritual life, and of suffering as a necessary part of it" (102). These poignant words helped me see how Christ's cross and resurrection not only explain the journey the Son of God took, but all of us who are in Him. Often I hear this said theologically (we have been crucified with Christ and our lives are buried with him) but Barton helped me connect the dots a little bit on how this is a lived reality.

I highly recommend this book. It is the best book on community I read in 2014 and it would be a great resource for small groups or to read with a spiritual friend (Barton herself is a spiritual director and leads a ministry dedicated to strengthening the souls of and training pastors and ministry leaders). Because it reflects on Christ's resurrection, my lectionary-loving friends may appreciate reading through this in Easter as they seek to deepen their resurrection practice. However the principles and practices are applicable anytime. I give this book a hearty high five (stars): ★★★★★

Thank you to InterVarsity Press for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

My standing critique of books on spiritual disciplines is that they are too individualized in their expression and too anthropocentric. That is, they give you a set of practices which you can apply in the privacy of your own home as a means to deepen your spiritual life (whatever that means). What often is missing is the communal practices of the church (worship, word, sacrament) and a sense that the practices commended are less about bringing you into a more satisfying religious experience and more about tuning into the reality of God's presence.

So how does Barton measure up? Pretty good. She does stress the importance of community (everyone always does) but occasionally this book does feel like what she is advocating is a deeper, privatized religious experience. But this was mediated for me by the fact that I read this book with my church. Also, where she begins more individualistic and self-centered, the book moves towards a Spirituality which is more appropriately communal and Godward.

There are some really helpful and thoughtful suggestions about how to integrate Spiritual practices into your life. But the real value of this book is its accessibility. As someone who is read a lot on the Spiritual life, I can point to books that are deeper, better framed and more comprehensive than this book. But a lot of that would be lost on most people. What Barton offers is something thoughtful and engaging that normal people without theological education and academic proclivities can get into. And she is helpful. I especially liked her thoughts on developing a rule of life.

Some good ideas that can be used individually or as a group.

Corporate discernment is responding to the activity of God as a leadership group and to make decisions in response to that Presence. How to help a group discern God's leading. Leadership discernment involves listening with love and attention

The blessing Jesus promises stems from our willingness to admit our hunger and need.