Description: Early Christians practiced the disciplines of prayer, spiritual direction, fasting, and repentance and believed they were on the path toward an illumined heart. Drawing on early writings, Mathewes-Green offers insight for how 21st-century Christians can incorporate those spiritual practices.
Brief description: Frederica Mathewes-Green writes mostly about the Eastern Orthodox Church. She and her family converted in 1993, and her husband, Fr. Gregory, is pastor of the church they founded near Baltimore. A widely published author of 10 books and hundreds of essays in such diverse publications as the Washington Post, Smithsonian, and the Wall Street Journal, she has been a regular commentator for NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered, Los Angeles Times Book Review. She is a columnist for the Religion News Service, Beliefnet.com, and Christianity Today, and a podcaster for Ancient Faith Radio. She lives with her husband, the Rev. Gregory Mathewes-Green, in Johnson City, TN. Their three children are grown and married, and they have fourteen grandchildren.
Review Quotes: "A clear, compelling witness of Gospel truth...cuts through the niceties, the comfortable feel-good pap, the tempting cliches, to offer a hard, bold challenge: to live the Christian life as Christ meant it to be lived." --Lauren Winner
"The Illumined Heart will be of great help to anyone striving to walk the timeless path of Christ in our time." --Dallas Willard "Breathtakingly counter-cultural, and worth more to the honest seeker than shelves of what passes for practical spirituality these days." --Rod Dreher