Richard Foster, New Christian Course

Richard Foster

Richard Foster (1942- ) is a member of the Quakers (also called (the Religious Society of Friends). He was a professor at Friends University and pastor of Evangelical Friends churches. Foster is regarded as the ‘father’ of the Spiritual Formation Movement within evangelical churches. His book Celebration of Discipline (1978) is the recommended text on Spiritual Formation and has sold more than two and a half million copies. It was selected by Christianity Today as one of the top ten books of the 20th century. The extent of Foster’s influence is astounding. You will be hard pressed to find a Bible college or seminary across all denominations that doesn’t offer a course on Spiritual Formation. Foster writes:

“When I first began writing in the field in the late 70s and early 80s the term “Spiritual Formation” was hardly known, except for highly specialized references in relation to the Catholic orders. Today it is a rare person who has not heard the term. Seminary courses in Spiritual Formation proliferate like baby rabbits. Huge numbers are seeking to become certified as Spiritual Directors to answer the cry of multiplied thousands for spiritual direction.”

http://blog.renovare.org/2003/05/20/heart-to-heart-on-christian-spiritual-formation

Countless evangelical leaders actively endorse Foster’s brand of Spiritual Formation. One example is Rick Warren who writes:

“From time to time God has raised up a parachurch movement to reemphasize a neglected purpose of the church … [one such movement is the] Spiritual Formation Movement. A reemphasis on developing believers to full maturity has been the focus … authors such as … Richard Foster and Dallas Willard have underscored the importance of building up Christians and establishing personal spiritual disciplines… [this] movement has a valid message for the church … [it] has given the body a wake-up call.”

Purpose Driven Church p. 126

See Rick Warren

To advance his philosophy of Spiritual Formation and contemplative prayer worldwide, Richard Foster founded an organization called Renovare (meaning spiritual renewal). It is an ecumenical organization offering resources, retreats and training in Spiritual Formation.

Celebration of Discipline

At the beginning of Celebration of Discipline Foster describes the spiritual disciplines that he wishes to teach his readers. He writes:

“The classical Disciplines of the spiritual life call us to move beyond surface living into the depths. They invite us to explore the inner caverns of the spiritual realm.” (p. 1)

The “classical Disciplines” Foster states are the spiritual exercises of the ancient Catholic mystics – Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Francis de Sale and Ignatius Loyola – and Thomas Merton. Foster believes these mystics discovered the key to true spiritual life. He called them the “masters of the interior life”. As such, Foster has drawn from a polluted well of falsehood and merely repackaged it for an unsuspecting modern audience.

In Celebration of Discipline Foster explains his view of the inner world:

“We must be willing to go down into the recreating silences, into the inner world of contemplation. In their writings, all of the masters of meditation strive to awaken us to the fact that the universe is much larger than we know, that there are vast unexplored inner regions that are just as real as the physical world we know so well… They call us to the adventure, to be pioneers in this frontier of the Spirit.” (p. 13)

Foster encourages an out-of-body experience to supposedly move into the presence of God:

“In your imagination allow your spiritual body, shining with light, to rise out of your physical body. Look back so that you can see yourself lying in the grass and reassure your body that you will return momentarily. Imagine your spiritual self, alive and vibrant, rising up through the clouds and into the stratosphere. . . Go deeper and deeper into outer space until there is nothing except the warm presence of the eternal Creator. Rest in His presence. Listen quietly, anticipating the unanticipated. Note carefully any instruction given. With time and experience you will be able to distinguish readily between mere human thought that may bubble up to the conscious mind and the True Spirit which inwardly moves upon the heart.” (pp. 27, 28)

Those who follow Foster’s advise are not encountering God but rather opening themselves up to occult spiritual forces.

Foster claims that to really make contact with God we need to learn from the mystics—we need their techniques of visualization and imagination. In Celebration of Disciple, Richard Foster writes:

“As with meditation, the imagination is a powerful tool in the work of prayer. We may be reticent to pray with the imagination, feeling that it is slightly beneath us. Children have no such reticence… Imagination often opens the door to faith … Let’s play a little game. Since we know that Jesus is always with us, let’s imagine that he is sitting over in the chair across from us. He is waiting patiently for us to centre our attention on him. When we see him, we start thinking more about His love than how sick Julie is. He smiles, gets up, and comes over to us. Then, let’s put both our hands on Julie and when we do, Jesus will put His hands on top of ours. We’ll watch the light from Jesus flow into your little sister and make her well.” (p. 173)

Nowhere in the Bible is this type of practice stated or even hinted at. It is in fact a form of idolatry as the person erects a false ‘Christ’ in their mind’s imagination.

Meditative Prayer

In Foster’s book Meditative Prayer he writes that the purpose of this type of prayer is to create a “spiritual space” or “inner sanctuary” through “specific meditation exercises” (p9). Foster identifies several mystics in the book who reveal these crucial exercises: Madame Guyon, Teresa of Avila, Francis de Sales, Henri Nouwen, and Thomas Merton. Foster explains the contemplative process in three steps. He says:

“The first step [in meditative prayer] is sometimes called “centering down.” Others have used the term re-collection; that is, a re-collecting of ourselves until we are unified or whole. The idea is to let go of all competing distractions until we are truly centered, until we are truly present where we are.” (p. 9)

Foster says that practicing visualization methods help to center down.

The second step of meditation, is “the inward gaze of the heart upon the divine Center.” Foster says that fourteenth-century mystic Richard Rolle experienced “physical sensations” (p17) in this “gaze of the heart”. But reassures “Few if any of us will have the physical sensations that Rolle experienced”. (p. 18) (Note: This is known in Eastern mysticism as “kundalini”.)

In step three, this is where the practitioner is actively “listening” to ‘God’. Once the meditative exercises have been implemented “quieting all physical, emotional and psychological senses”:

“At the center of our being we are hushed. The experience is more profound than mere silence… it is a listening silence…Something deep inside has been awakened and brought to attention. Our spirit is on tiptoe, alert and listening.”

Now the realm has been entered where the voice of ‘God’ can be heard.

However, this ecstatic state is nothing more than an altered state of consciousness. His three steps are the core practice of Catholic mysticism, Eastern mysticism, the occult and the New Age. It is entirely absent from the Bible’s teaching on prayer.

Foster acknowledges the potential for “spiritual influences that are not of God” in meditative prayer. And he advises:

“Before every experience of meditation I pray this simple prayer of protection: “I surround myself with the light of Christ. I cover myself with his blood, and I seal myself with his cross.”

Nowhere in scripture, however, do we find such a prayer-for-protection formula. Rather, it constitutes a type of an occultic amulet or talisman, to ward off evil. Foster insists that he trusts that by using this preemptive prayer-for-protection he is experiencing God and not “evil powers”, but he is playing with hell-fire. The Bible warns us that “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14)

Foster’s ultimate agenda is to unite all ‘faiths’ in the common practice of this form of mysticism. He writes

“[Jesus] showed us God’s yearning for the gathering of an all-inclusive community of loving persons.” (p. 5)

Foster defines more of what he means by “all-inclusive” in his book Streams of Living Water when he says this “all-inclusive community” includes everything from a “Catholic monk” to a “Baptist evangelist”:

“I see a Catholic monk from the hills of Kentucky standing alongside a Baptist evangelist from the streets of Los Angeles and together offering up a sacrifice of praise.” (p. 274)

(The only place in “the hills of Kentucky” where Catholic monks live is the Gethsemani Abbey, a Trappist monastery. This was the home base of Thomas Merton. See Thomas Merton .)