Debra Dean Murphy

Desire. Conviction. Character. Story. Practice. Institution. The Shape of Our Lives digs into how these six factors-often operating beneath our consciousness-profoundly affect our spiritual formation, both as individuals and congregations. As Christians across America grapple with the value and purpose of church, this accessible volume provides a roadmap for exploring what motivates and forms us. The Shape of Our Lives equips readers to look beneath the surface, understanding the forces impacting our formation. The book lays a theological and practical foundation for congregations and communities to be transformed more into the image of Christ. How does a community of people-with their different and sometimes competing values-grow together? How can congregations make room for God's spirit to be at work? The Shape of Our Lives will give you and your Christian community the language to renew these conversations and embark on the journey of congregational formation." In these times of disillusionment with church, there could not be a more timely book. " --David Fitch, Lindner Chair of Evangelical Theology at Northern Seminary

This is an important book With a generous spirit and discerning eye, Murphy unmasks the ways in which the biblical and theological context of Christian education has been co-opted, on the one hand, by a focus on learning experiences and, on the other hand, by modernity's understanding of what it means to be human. She summons Christian education back to its integral relationship with Christian worship, drawing it out of the church basement and into the sanctuary where Christian persons and communities are most regularly formed and where the content of Christian formation -- Bible and Theology -- are 'practiced' by the church. Murphy's critique of contemporary religious education theory is provocative; her interpretation of the 'lessons' of the liturgy are prophetic. I will be recommending it to my colleagues in Christian education and liturgical studies alike. -- E. Byron Anderson, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary Few tasks facing the contemporary church are more urgent than coming to an understanding of the critical importance of Christian formation. Yet as Debra Dean Murphy demonstrates so ably in these pages, this task is too often undermined by the alien assumptions that reside at the core of the 'religious education establishment. Murphy's penetrating analysis and profound proposals will be welcomed by anyone who had ever longed for a theory and practice of Christian education that would flow out of and do justice to the deep and abiding mysteries at the heart of Christian worship. -- Philip D. Kenneson, author of Life on the Vine Debra Dean Murphy is Adjunct Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Meredith College and director of Christian education at Fuquay-Varine United Methodist Church, a 1,500-member congregation in suburban Raleigh, North Carolina. She holds a PhD in theological and religious studies from Drew University.