{"id":893,"date":"2009-06-23T17:26:11","date_gmt":"2009-06-23T21:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/?p=893"},"modified":"2026-08-11T14:37:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T21:37:17","slug":"richard-fosters-celebration-of-deception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/richard-fosters-celebration-of-deception\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Foster’s Celebration of Deception"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Bob DeWaay
\nTwin City Fellowship<\/p>\n

In February 2008, Christianity Today ran a glowing cover story about Evangelicalism’s recent embrace of medieval Roman Catholic mysticism entitled The Future lies in the Past.1 The article traced the beginning of the movement as follows: “The movement seems to have exploded in a 24-month period in 1977-1978, which saw the publication of Richard Foster’s bestselling Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth and Robert Webber’s Common Roots: A Call to Evangelical Maturity.”2<\/p>\n

The article views Foster as one who continues to guide the movement: “From Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, and living practicing monks and nuns, they [those going back to Roman Catholic mysticism] must learn both the strengths and the limits of the historical ascetic disciplines.”3 So Foster was instrumental in starting a movement that is still growing 30-plus years later.<\/p>\n

The irony about this particular CIC regarding Foster’s 1978 book is that in 1978 I myself was living in a Christian community committed to practicing much of what he promotes in Celebration of Discipline (even though we had not learned it from him directly). So I am not criticizing a practice about which I know nothing (or one in which I have no experience). I am criticizing a practice I foolishly allowed to deceive me for a significant portion of my early Christian life. When it comes to being deceived by mysticism, I have had abundant involvement. The only way I escaped it was through discovering and adopting the Reformation principle of sola scriptura.<\/p>\n

In this article I will show that Foster’s “journey inward” is unbiblical and dangerous. I will show that most of the spiritual disciplines that he calls “means of grace” are no means of grace at all\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut a means of putting oneself under spiritual deception. Click here to read this entire article.<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Related:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Richard Foster’s Legacy Endures – Christian Leaders Help to Make it So <\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

More research material on Foster’s spirituality.<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Bob DeWaay Twin City…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":27212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[167],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contemplative-denominations","wpcat-167-id"],"yoast_head":"\nRichard Foster's Celebration of Deception - From the Lighthouse<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/richard-fosters-celebration-of-deception\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Richard Foster's Celebration of Deception\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Bob DeWaay Twin City...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/richard-fosters-celebration-of-deception\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"From the Lighthouse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LighthouseTrailsResearch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-06-23T21:26:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-11T21:37:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/celebrationofdiscipline-40-years-e1786484230676.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"432\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bob DeWaay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@LTrails\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@LTrails\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bob DeWaay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/richard-fosters-celebration-of-deception\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/richard-fosters-celebration-of-deception\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bob DeWaay\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b7d1da55d62df643797a1b7ecc8f998\"},\"headline\":\"Richard Foster’s Celebration of Deception\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-06-23T21:26:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-11T21:37:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/richard-fosters-celebration-of-deception\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":326,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/richard-fosters-celebration-of-deception\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/celebrationofdiscipline-40-years-e1786484230676.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Contemplative Denominations\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/richard-fosters-celebration-of-deception\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/richard-fosters-celebration-of-deception\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/richard-fosters-celebration-of-deception\\\/\",\"name\":\"Richard Foster's Celebration of Deception - 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