Learning to Dream Again: Rediscovering the Heart of God

by Samuel Wells

Overview

Meditations that beautifully articulate a contemporary Christian wisdom

Through a series of short, thoughtful meditations, Learning to Dream Again shows what true wisdom -- wisdom shaped by Jesus' earthy humility, shameful suffering, and effervescent joy -- might look like for Christians today. Through the lens of this Christian wisdom, Samuel Wells addresses a number of difficult personal and social issues, including taxes, abortion, torture, hunger, and Christian engagement with broader culture in the arts, sciences, athletics, and medicine.

As he seeks to present a faithful rendering of the mind of Christ, Wells deftly ties abstract ideas to everyday Christian living. He groups his meditations thematically into these six chapters:

• Learning to Love Again
• Learning to Live Again
• Learning to Think Again
• Learning to Read Again
• Learning to Feel Again
• Learning to Dream Again

Beautifully written and extraordinarily insightful, Learning to Dream Again is both for Christians who have been to church for years but long to ponder the ambiguities and hard questions of faith and life and for new Christians who are just beginning to investigate how the gospel connects to their most searching questions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802868718
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	04/26/2013
Pages:	233
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Samuel Wells is vicar of St. Martin-in- the-Fields, London. His previous books include Walk Humbly, Incarnational Ministry, Incarnational Mission, Shaping the Prayers of the People (with Abigail Kocher), and Learning to Dream Again.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Introduction 1

Form 1

Theme 4

Contents 10

1 Learning to Love Again 13

Love to the Loveless Shown That They May Lovely Be 13

Inseparable 19

Everything's Relative 25

Searched and Known 30

Put a Lid on It 37

Who Are You? 42

2 Learning to Live Again 49

There Are Two Ways We Can Do This 50

Entertaining Angels Unaware 55

Feeling God's Pleasure 60

Ref assorting the Clay 66

Turning All into Alleluia 72

3 learning to Think Again 79

Choosing Life…and Living with Choices 80

Our Tortured State 85

Ordinary Rendition 91

Facing Down Hunger 97

Food Is Politics 103

The Justice of God 109

4 Learning to Read Again 116

Reading the Bible and Letting the Bible Read You 117

I'm a Prophet, Get Me Out of Here 124

Two Questions 130

Dwelling in the Comma 135

Five Smooth Stones 141

The Healing of the Nations 146

5 Learning to Feel Again 151

The Godfather 151

Can These Dry Bones Live? 157

The Power of Saying Thank You 163

Like the Angels 169

I May Not Get There with You 175

Are You Tired? 181

6 Learning to Dream Again 189

Restoring the Years 190

The Word We Don't Mention 195

Starting from Zero 200

The Rolling Stones 206

Learning to Dream Again 211

Acknowledgments 217

Subject Index 218

Scripture Reference Index 220

Editorial Reviews

Sarah Coakley
-- University of Cambridge
"It is impossible to read this commanding book without being put on the spot and recalled to Jesus' teaching with new authenticity. Sam Wells is a rare preacher and teacher who tugs at the heart as much as he snags at the critical intelligence of the reader who seeks for truth."

Lillian Daniel
-- author of When "Spiritual but Not Religious" Is Not Enough
"With self-deprecating humor, Wells disarms us just enough to get us to consider the most countercultural matters of faith -- like why wisdom is unfashionable, how shame can play a useful role in our lives, and why discipline may do us more good than relentless self-expression. . . . He guides us out of our own egos and into a dazzling divine reality where learning and dreaming meet."

Cornelius Plantinga Jr.
-- author of Engaging God's World: A Christian Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living
"Samuel Wells has written a book so searching, so winsome, so wise that it will find your heart and dwell there. A beautiful piece of work."

Thomas G. Long
-- Emory University
"This very wise and moving book about renewal, identity, and the hopeful shape of the Christian life is a rare accomplishment. Wells helps us to think deeply about the ordinary round of life -- relationships, marriage, work, leisure, politics, death -- while at the same time encouraging us to lift our sights and to dream again, even the dream of God."

Michael L. Lindvall
-- The Brick Presbyterian Church
"How refreshing! Sam Wells offers intelligent and literary writing on Christian faith that is deeply rooted in Scripture and in his own faith and personal experience. He carries his readers far and wide into matters ranging from the routine challenges of daily life to those as edgy and current as the 'new atheism' and the threat of terrorism."

Interpretation
"A trained ethicist, Wells has the heart of a pastor, and this collection of essays reads like a series of sermons. Grounded in well-researched and thoughtful biblical exegesis, Wells explores the human condition through personal and pastoral stories, pop-cultural and artistic references. . . . Learning toDream Again lives up to its ambitious title, though this book is no flight of fancy."

Books at a Glance
"A captivating, yet hard to categorize work. . . . Perhaps it is best described as a Wisdom-Spirituality illustrated with personal testimony and contemporary moral reflection. . . . If you're willing to be stretched, challenged, and deepened, I strongly recommend Wells' Learning to Dream Again."

From the Publisher