Being Mindful, Being Christian has many contributors, more than those listed on the cover, yet the material moves seamlessly between the writers.
Overall, I found the material helpful. I had been confused by the term “mindfulness” before reading this book and now I have a great deal more clarity. The first part of the book is more theoretical and I had trouble engaging until the focus changed to “being Christian.” This section covers four ways of approaching Christian living mindfully under the four sub-titles: Compassion, Courage, Curiosity and Character. In this section, the authors gave examples and illustrations from a variety of people in different circumstances which showed the great number of ways mindfulness can be practised. These examples made me realise that I do practice mindfulness in informal ways.
The chapters on Compassion cover the discrepancy Christians often have between their head knowledge of God and their experience of faith in daily life. Courage looks at how we avoid our negative feelings and what we can learn if we take notice of them. Curiosity helps us in our Bible study prayer times to help us move beyond our preconceived understanding of Scripture. Character looks at using mindfulness to develop good character.
The book is interspersed with additional resources in text boxes, such as answers to concerns that Christians have; historical summaries of occasions when Christians have used different types of mindfulness; exercises to try; additional references to other material; some more in-depth looks at Bible passages connected with mindfulness; and ideas for groups.
The material in this book reminded me of the word often found in Psalms that translators have trouble translating: Selah. It’s thought to mean pause and think about this. Mindfulness is about pausing and taking time to think.
A well put together resource—helpful and insightful.
More reviews of this book can be found on Goodreads. More reviews of other Christian Non-fiction books that I have read can be found here.
