Conflicted Faith - Seel, Graham

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Résumé :
All Christians struggle with their faith. We all have questions, we all doubt, we are all afraid at times. These conflicts are valuable because they cause us to struggle with God. (After all, struggling with God transformed Jacob into Israel). We often brush conflict under the carpet. But by combining the expressive and honest insights of John Donne's Holy Sonnets and the beautiful promises and hope of the Bible, Conflicted Faith helps us work through and resolve our faith struggles. This resolution deepens and grows our relationship with God. This book is a guide to navigating a range of faith challenges, doubts. and fears. It is also a devotional commentary on the extraordinary Holy Sonnets of 17th century English poet John Donne. It is a balm for those encountering the Wall in their faith journey (as described by Drs. Bill and Kristi Gaultier in Journey of the Soul. It offers comfort, encouragement, and hope in the times they are most needed. Conflicted Faith does this by drawing extensively on the Bible to complement and respond to John Donne's so-familiar questions of faith. Some of the questions that are addressed with John Donne's help and the Bible's illumination and hope are: Can I be sure God loves me? Why doesn't God just fix me? What will happen when I die? Why is the Church so messed up? Are we really more than sophisticated animals? What is God's idea of beauty? John Donne may have lived hundreds of years ago. But his conflicts of faith are very much the same ones we experience when we live out our messy and unpredictable Christian lives. As we walk through them with him, the words of Scripture will comfort, encourage, and strengthen us. Truly, by God's grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, we grow in faith through, and because of, the conflicts we encounter on the way.

Biographie:
Graham Seel is a blogger and writer with a particular focus on the practicalities of Christian living. He draws on 50 years of Christian experience and Bible study, writing and teaching on what it means to live out faith in the real world; the Christian's place in social and economic justice; and the challenges that come with growing as a Christian. He is a lay Bible teacher, preacher, worship leader, and church administrator. His Christianity Today featured blog Faith @ Work, and a 2020 blog series entitled Becoming Antiracist can be found on his website ConflictedFaith.com. Graham is a retired banker. In his retirement, he focuses on bringing together his faith, his passion for economic justice, and his banking knowledge in enabling financial inclusion across Africa. Future books will draw on this experience to explore how God works through his people to bring about justice, mercy, and compassion in a broken world. Graham is married, with three daughters and six grandchildren, who (of course) he adores. He has spent the first half of his life in England and the second half in the San Francisco Bay Area. He currently lives with his wife of 35 years, Margaret, and his loving paranoid dog, Shadow.