John H. Westerhoff

A straightforward, easy-to-understand introduction to the Episcopal Church.What are we as Episcopalians? This concise booklet explores five main areas of Episcopal life: identity, authority, spirituality, temperament, and polity. A great introduction to the Episcopal way of thinking in readable prose for any newcomer or seeker in the Episcopal Church who may wonder what makes Episcopalians different than Roman Catholics or other protestants.

Originally written in 1976, revised in 200, and translated in six languages, this classic critique of Christian education is newly revised and expanded and includes Westerhoff's overview and perspective on the state Christian education over the past forty years-plus his role in that history. According to Westerhoff, instead of guiding faith formation within the family, the church, and the school, we relegate religious education to Sunday morning classes. There, children learn the facts about religion, but how will they learn or experience faith? How can we nourish and nurture the faith of children, instead of only teaching the facts?

Episcopalians consider themselves to be people whose individual and corporate lives are shaped by the Book of Common Prayer, but aside from worship on Sunday morning, few know what fills its nearly 1,000 pages. John Westerhoff, Episcopal priest and Christian educator, walks readers through the ways in which the contents of the Prayer Book can (and should) shape the lives of those who call themselves Episcopalians. An excellent resource for parish study or reading in advance of seminary training, Westerhoff explores a brief history of the Prayer Book, and the ways in which it shapes us as pilgrims and prayerful people. How Episcopalians live into their baptism, live a Eucharistic and reconciling life, as well as a life of wholeness and health, are explored in detail. All of this, as Westerhoff writes, helps us lead a holy life, and one day, to a holy death.

As a people whose faith is formed and nourished by the Bible's stories of creation and fall, salvation and redemption, Christians hunger to order their lives by the church's story and their own. Our journey to God leads us through the cycle of the church year from Advent and Christmas to Easter and the season called "ordinary time" as we tell and retell God's story and make it the story we live by. In A Pilgrim People John Westerhoff looks at the gospel texts season by season and relates their teachings not only to Christian life and ministry but to the life cycle of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. In teaching the lessons of the church year, Westerhoff starts not with Advent but with Holy Week and Easter, which marks the birth of Christian faith and its vision of a dream come true. Commenting briefly on each of the gospel readings for each Sunday, he moves from Eastertide through Ascension and Pentecost, the season after Pentecost, Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, and Lent, offering useful themes for preaching and education. The final chapter incorporates a radical proposal for Christian education to reform the church's organization, worship, education, and outreach.

Westerhoff challenges Christians to move beyond the quest for material possessions by embarking on a life of simplicity that begins with an inward journey. An exploration of how to fulfill the baptismal covenant by giving generously from the heart to achieve a deeper relationship with God. John H. Westerhoff is an Episcopal priest, the former professor of theology and Christian nurture at Duke University, the author of many books about Christian education and life. For the last decade he has been theologian-in-residence at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Atlanta, Georgia.