A unified vision of gospel-centered spirituality

One of the things Brian wants to accomplish in this book is a synthesis of several approaches to spirituality that are usually not found together: So, the gospel (chapters 2-5), the application of the gospel in the pursuit of holiness (chapters 6-8), Christian hedonism as motivation (chapter 9), and means (disciplines, community, suffering, chapters 10-12).

What he hopes will be distinctive in this book is combing these approaches together into one unified vision of gospel-centered spirituality. The idea is that in reading this book, you can get a clear picture of the goal (think, John Ortberg or J. I. Packer), the means of the gospel (think, Jerry Bridges or C. J. Mahaney), the application in mortification and spiritual growth (think, Kris Lundgaard), the motivation (think, John Piper), and the means of disciplines and community (think, John Ortberg or Don Whitney), plus suffering (think, Jerry Bridges and others).

I think that goal is clearly reflected at last in this, the latest and probably the final Table of Contents.

Christ Formed in You
The Power of the Gospel for Personal Change

Part I: The Foundations of Personal Change
1. Restoring God’s Broken Image: The Goal
2. The Key to Transformation: The Gospel
3. The Curse is Canceled: Justification
4. The Cure Has Begun: The Heart
5. Closing the Gap: Sanctification

Part II: The Path of Personal Change
6. Captivated by Beauty: Holiness
7. The Killing of Sin: Mortification
8. Growing in Grace: Vivification
9. The Quest for Joy: Motivation

Part III: The Means of Personal Change
10. Training in the Spirit: Disciplines
11. The Refiner’s Fire: Suffering
12. Life Together: Community

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Excerpts from Current Draft of Chapter 10, on Spiritual Disciplines

From his home the man had an unobstructed view of the new construction site. The work had started out normally enough. A commercial building of some kind, it seemed. But after the workers had leveled the ground and poured the foundation, something odd took place. With the help of various machines, a rectangular silver box was maneuvered into the center of the slab. It was the size of a large living room, and taller than any of the men. In the days that followed, as the crew began to frame the building and add drywall, the huge, glistening box was gradually hidden from view. Still curious, the man decided to walk over and ask what it was.

The building, he learned, was to be a bank, and the great silver box was its vault. So important to the bank was this vault, so central to everything the bank did and stood for, that the building was being constructed around it. The vault lay at the heart of the bank, defining its purpose, giving it value, and making it distinct from every other building in the area.

Discipleship is meant to resemble the construction process this man was witnessing. For it is through the practice of the spiritual disciplines that we are enabled to build our lives around Jesus. He is the treasure and great reward hidden in our hearts. By him we possess, deep within us, the sure and certain hope of eternal, unfading riches.

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Two Benefits of Editing

There are many reasons to edit a book and many benefits result from the editing process. But, speaking from an author's perspective, here are two benefits that stand out to me.

First, an editor's critical eye helps the author clarify and simplify his train of thought. This is where (again, from my perspective) Kevin has helped me the most. He has discovered places where I dropped a train of thought, raised expectations for the reader that I failed to fulfill, made a leap in logic, or was too subtle or fuzzy or foggy to be understood. And he's helped me cut out cumbersome passages that do not advance the argument of the book. As a result, the manuscript is now both shorter (!), but also leaner, more streamlined.

Second, the editing process has helped me refine my writing style. This is the benefit of multiple rewrites (some of the chapters have been through three or four revisions!). Of course, the primary goal in the revision has been to clarify and simplify, but the net effect has also been an improvement in style. At this point in writing I know almost all of what I want to say. The content is there. Revising the text has thus provided an opportunity to not only work on clarity, but also look closely at how I'm saying what I want to say.

Editing a book is like simultaneously doing structural remodels in a house and changing the color scheme and decor. Removing a wall here and there and adding some windows for better light cause the house feel more spacious. Putting on a fresh coat of paint and ridding the place of dated art make the house feel more classy.

In both ways - and I'm sure in others, as well - the manuscript is taking on a much better shape.

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Titling Goes to Another Level

Well, it's been quite a while since this blog has been updated. With respect to the previous post, the overall approach to chapter titles has been overhauled once again; this is very typical and usually very helpful. This e-mail Brian sent me on January 5 (slightly edited) summarizes the state of our thinking.

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Part I: The Foundations for Transformation [Or Spiritual Formation]
1. Restoring God’s Broken Image: The Goal
2. The Key to Transformation: The Gospel
3. The Curse is Canceled: Justification
4. The Cure Has Begun: The Heart
5. Closing the Gap: Sanctification

Part II: The Path of Transformation [Or Spiritual Formation]
6. Captivated by Beauty: Holiness
7. The Killing of Sin: Mortification
8. Growing in Grace: Vivification  (or Transformation)
9. The Quest for Joy: Motivation

Part III: The Means of Transformation [Or Spiritual Formation]
10. Training in the Spirit: Disciplines
11. The Refiner’s Fire: Suffering
12. Life Together: Community

Or [Using the same chapter titles]

Part I: Foundations
Part II: Building Blocks
Part III: Tools

I also think it would be nice if we could somehow build some congruency between the overall structure (and titling) of the various parts and the subtitle and introduction. If we use “roadmap” in the subtitle, then mixing the metaphors and using foundation/building blocks/tools might not work. So, we could change the subtitle to something like, “A Blueprint for Your Spiritual Growth.” Or we could choose section titles that go with the “roadmap” metaphor – maybe: Part I: Starting with the Gospel, Part III: Pressing On to Holiness; Part III: Helps for the Journey, or Helps Along the Way.

So, [Once again using the same chapter titles]

Introduction: A Roadmap for Your Spiritual Journey
Part I: Starting with the Gospel
Part II: Pressing on to Holiness
Part III: Helps for the Journey, or Helps Along the Way 

So, those are some more ideas to throw in the mix!

BTW, I’m working on chapters 8 and 10 (and maybe 9) today. Hope to have something to you by the end of the day.

Brian

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Distilled TOC

You can never be too clear on the big-picture overview of a complex book in process. Now that we're getting close to being about halfway done, I felt the need to distill the project down and get some clarity on titles for the Parts of the book. This always helps me immensely, because editing in context is worlds apart from simply editing.
 

Distilled Table of Contents, not reflecting actual chapter titles

Christ Formed in You
A Comprehensive Look at the Christian Life

Part One

Conceptual Foundations: The Gospel and Our Need

1.    Imago Dei
2.    The Gospel
3.    Justification
4.    The Heart
5.    Sanctification

Part Two
Holiness: The Goal of This Earthly Life and How to Pursue It

6.    Holiness
7.    Mortification
8.    Vivification
9.    Motivation

Part Three
The Means of Grace God Uses to Make Us More Holy

10.    Spiritual Disciplines
11.    Suffering
12.    Community

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Cut & Paste: Recent email exchanges

Brian wrote on 10/15/2009 regarding Chapter 4:
Okay – here’s a substantially revised version of chapter four. I threw out the introduction and the final section of the chapter, moved a middle section to the front to create a new introduction (which I’m not sure I’m happy with – are you?), smoothed out some transitions, retitled a couple of subsections, inserted most of the material on indwelling sin from chapter seven, and added a (hopefully) clarifying chart showing the relationship between our position and practice in Christ. This revision completely changed the set up of the chapter. It’s now not focused on a problem (whether legalism or license, though I mention the latter), but on how we are to take the resources of the gospel (positional sanctification/union with Christ) and apply them to our lives by “living in sync with the gospel” (progressive transformation). I’ll be curious to see your critique. I’m sure it still needs work!

Brian wrote on 10/16/2009 regarding Chapter 4:
This is slightly revised from what I sent yesterday. I clarified the chart to use the same language (once-for-all-ongoing, definitive events vs. ongoing, personal, practice) that I revisit in chapter 6. Here’s one more idea that I’ve had – should we consider swapping around chapters 4 and 5? There’s a very key link between 4 and 6. But on the other hand, there’s also a key link between 3 and 4. Chapter five, while important, seems somewhat out of the logical flow of the argument. Have you noticed this? Do you think it matters?

Kevin replied on 10/20/2009 regarding chapter sequencing :
As you suggested, I think I am inclined to reverse the order of chapters 4 and 5. That would give us the following progression:

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Adjusting the order of subsections, Part 2

No surprise: After editing, two of the headlines (underlined in blue) were reworded, and four (underlined in green) were shuffled around to form a more logical progression. This logic becomes more obvious when reading the text. Really.

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