Andrew Arndt - Streams in the Wasteland: Finding Spiritual Renewal with the Desert Fathers and Mothers

Im 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, youll find the nourishment your soul longs for.

RICH VILLODAS , lead pastor of New Life Fellowship and author of The Deeply Formed Life

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 Andrews ancient friends.

ALICE FRYLING , author of Aging Faithfully: The Holy Invitation of Growing Older

In Scripture, wilderness is where you find trouble. But its also where we encounter the burning bush; its the rugged country where God finds us and rescues us. In these pages, we hearthrough a fresh and artful penthese ancient voices who knew the wild places and the wild God. Were desperate for this wisdom.

WINN COLLIER , director of the Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination at Western Theological Seminary, author of Love Big, Be Well and A Burning in My Bones

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.

AMY BOUCHER PYE , author of 7 Ways to Pray

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.

BRADY BOYD , senior pastor of New Life Church

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 Gods world. This book will become a treasure for many seekers.

TREVOR HUDSON , author of Seeking God: Finding Another Kind of Life with St. Ignatius and Dallas Willard

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.

DANIEL GROTHE , author of The Power of Place

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 missionthis 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.

AJ SHERRILL , priest and author of Being with God: The Absurdity, Necessity, and Neurology of Contemplative Prayer

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.

ANDI ROZIER , pastor of worship at New Life East

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; its in how he places their insight into our lives like water on our parched tongues.

GLENN PACKIAM , lead pastor of New Life Downtown, author of The Resilient Pastor and Blessed Broken Given

NavPress is the publishing ministry of The Navigators, an international Christian organization and leader in personal spiritual development. NavPress is committed to helping people grow spiritually and enjoy lives of meaning and hope through personal and group resources that are biblically rooted, culturally relevant, and highly practical.

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Streams in the Wasteland: Finding Spiritual Renewal with the Desert Fathers and Mothers

Copyright 2022 by Andrew Arndt. All rights reserved.

A NavPress resource published in alliance with Tyndale House Publishers

NavPress and the NavPress logo are registered trademarks of NavPress, The Navigators, Colorado Springs, CO. Tyndale is a registered trademark of Tyndale House Ministries. Absence of in connection with marks of NavPress or other parties does not indicate an absence of registration of those marks.

The Team:

David Zimmerman, Publisher; Caitlyn Carlson, Editor; Elizabeth Schroll, Copy Editor; Olivia Eldredge, Operations Manager; Libby Dykstra, Designer

Cover illustration of God in Nature and Revelation, 1875, public domain.

Interior photograph of wood texture copyright Chayanit/Rawpixel. All rights reserved.

Published in association with The Bindery Agency, www.TheBinderyAgency.com

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible, copyright 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible and CSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. Scripture quotations marked KJ21 are taken from the 21st Century King James Version, copyright 1994. Used by permission of Deuel Enterprises, Inc., Gary, SD 57237. All rights reserved.

Excerpts from The Sayings of the Desert Fathers [Apophthegmata Patrum]: The Alphabetic Collection by Benedicta Ward, SLG, trans., CS 59 (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1975) are used by permission of Liturgical Press. All right reserved.