Streams in the Wasteland: Finding Spiritual Renewal with the Desert Fathers and Mothers
Ebook
Overview
What if our exhaustion, burnout, and pain are an invitation into a more vibrant faith?
Christianity is fighting for its soul. Weve enjoyed the benefits of power and privilege for so long that many of us have forgotten the radical way of Jesus. But we have been here before. And there is a way through. Within a few hundred years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, Christianity emerged as the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. Where it once took courage to be a Christian, suddenly it was easy, and the radical way of Jesus was being lost. Toward the end of the fourth century, a group of men and women began to withdraw from the halls of privilege and power into the desert to rediscover the essence of Jesus Christ. The stories and examples of these desert fathers and mothers are recorded for us. And their lives still speak by as they teach us:
- To embrace the disciplines of solitude, silence, and prayer;
- To pursue humility, generosity, and unity in rich relationship with others;
- To develop a keen eye for wisdom; and
- To lay down our rights for the good of others.
The desert fathers and mothers found a way to live radically, humanly, and beautifully in a spiritually desolate and confusing time. So can we.
Streams in the Wasteland is for all those who thirst for a better waythe radical way of Jesus amid the desert of our age.
I’m always on the lookout for ancient wisdom made accessible to our contemporary world. Not everyone does this well. Andrew Arndt does. Andrew has given us a great gift in re-presenting “desert spirituality” for this generation. In these pages, you’ll find the nourishment your soul longs for.
In Streams in the Wasteland, Andrew Arndt shares with us how the Desert Fathers and Mothers have shaped his own faith, welcoming us to listen as they still teach us about God, others, and our world. Set against a backdrop of Scripture, this book invites us all to experience the love and inner freedom described by Andrew’s ancient friends.
In Scripture, wilderness is where you find trouble. But it’s also where we encounter the burning bush; it’s the rugged country where God finds us and rescues us. In these pages, we hear—through a fresh and artful pen—these ancient voices who knew the wild places and the wild God. We’re desperate for this wisdom.
Andrew Arndt has made friends with the Desert Fathers and Mothers, and he invites us to enjoy their friendship too. His winsome book reveals how their wisdom sheds light on the problems we face today. One to read, underline, ponder, and share.
Andrew is one of the clearest, brightest thinkers in the local church. This book takes us right into the presence of God, opening our eyes to the mystery and wonder of the resurrected Christ.
With one foot in the stream of the desert dwellers from the fourth and fifth centuries and the other in our contemporary spiritual wasteland, Andrew Arndt shares with his reader the treasures that desert spirituality offers us in our own seeking. As Andrew gently insists, exploring these treasures will not draw us into a privatized faith. Rather, they lead us into transformed relationships within our communities of faith and a more transforming engagement with God’s world. This book will become a treasure for many seekers.
In a cultural moment that chases celebrity and prizes originality, Andrew Arndt is calling us back to the hard-won wisdom of the wilderness. The monks and sages down through the ages have much to teach us if we will just listen. Simplicity. Sanity. Soul-satisfying anonymity. This book contains a great healing for our emaciated age.
In a time of fickle faith and rampant individualism, Andrew Ardnt will encourage your journey. But then his words will poke and prod you to the point of offense. This, I think, is the making of a great book, unafraid to tell the truth with grace, but to tell the truth no less. Solitude, community, and mission—this is the Jesus way, the way the desert disciples revealed to be our life-giving source for the journey. Andrew serves here as a wise guide into that way.
Andrew Arndt invites us, with his constant posture of honesty and grace, to be re-centered by the wisdom and practices of the Desert Fathers and Mothers. As they have led him, they will guide you toward the power and presence of community so you may kneel down once again at the riverbank of Living Waters.
Amidst global crises and faltering faith, many find themselves in the desert, disoriented and disappointed. Andrew Arndt shows us that we are not the first to feel this way. The desert saints stood against the corruption of the church and the pollution of the world, embracing and embodying a different wisdom. The brilliance of this book is not simply in the way Andrew selects and synthesizes from the desert saints; it’s in how he places their insight into our lives like water on our parched tongues.
Closing with the image of a renewed church, led by a spirit of vulnerability and sacrifice, Streams in the Wasteland is rich with the wisdom of early Christianity, which is expanded upon to help contemporary believers face their own challenges.
- Title: Streams in the Wasteland: Finding Spiritual Renewal with the Desert Fathers and Mothers
- Author: Andrew Arndt
- Publisher: NavPress
- Print Publication Date: 2022
- Logos Release Date: 2022
- Pages: 224
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781641584531, 9781641584517, 1641584513, 164158453X
- Resource ID: LLS:9781641584531
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T23:26:49Z
Reviews
1 rating
Christy Selvig
10/3/2022
This book offered timely commentary with insight and wisdom into many of the issues faced in our current culture. Thought provoking, Spirit inspired wisdom from the Desert Fathers and Mothers, summarized and presented well by Andrew Arndt. Read this book then reread this book with a pen and journal. Very well written in a conversational style.