{"product_id":"illumined-heart-capture-the-vibrant-faith-of-the-ancient-christians-9781557255532","title":"Illumined Heart: Capture the Vibrant Faith of the Ancient Christians","description":"Why are modern Christians so indistinguishable from everyone else?\u003cbr\u003eHow come Christians who lived in times of bloody persecution were so heroic, while we who live in safety are not?\u003cbr\u003eHow could the first Christians fast valiantly, but we feel deprived without dessert?\u003cbr\u003eHow did New Testament believers pray without ceasing?\u003cbr\u003eHow could the early Christian martyrs actually forgive their torturers?\u003cbr\u003eWhat did the Christians of the first centuries know that we don't?\u003cbr\u003eThat's what this book is about.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the author: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen I look back at the process of writing \u003ci\u003eThe Illumined Heart\u003c\/i\u003e, I'm amazed all over again at how God directed it. I wrote the whole thing in a week, the week before Christmas, in fact, which is so typically congested with last-minute errands, unpredicatable weather, aches and sniffles. For Orthodox Christians, it's also a week that we fast from meat and dairy, adding another ball to the juggling act. Yet somehow I started writing the book on Monday morning and completed it Sunday night, just fourteen minutes after the Christmas Eve service began. (I kept wondering where in the week I'd dawdled and lost that fourteen minutes.)\u003cbr\u003eIt's no wonder that I look at \u003ci\u003eThe Illumined Heart\u003c\/i\u003e as the one out of all of my books that felt the most God-directed. Mostly, he told me when to shut up. For a cup-runneth-over writer like me, starting a book is like moving into mid-pregnancy and putting on those stretch-front trousers for the first time; they're like a license to eat. And knowing that I have room to write on and on, whatever comes to mind, makes for abundant, wandering prose. Yet \u003ci\u003eThe Illumined Heart\u003c\/i\u003e is quiet, proportional, just-enough; it's like a jewel. It's no wonder that this is a personal favorite among my own books, and the one I must urge people to read. I'm pleased by the amount of good work it's done so far, and hope that it will continue to do much more.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrederica\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e Mathewes-Green\u003c\/b\u003e is a widely published author of 10 books and hundreds of essays in such diverse publications as the \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eChristianity Today\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSmithsonian\u003c\/i\u003e, and the \u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e. She has been a regular commentator for National Public Radio (NPR), a columnist for the Religion News Service, Beliefnet.com, and \u003ci\u003eChristianity Today\u003c\/i\u003e, and a podcaster for Ancient Faith Radio. She is in high demand as a speaker. She lives with her husband, the Rev. Gregory Mathewes-Green, in Johnson City, TN. Their three children are grown and married, and they have fourteen grandchildren.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Paraclete Press (MA)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50707568328978,"sku":"9781557255532","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e009fab7-5769-463b-830c-378cc589f664.jpg?v=1734498624","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/illumined-heart-capture-the-vibrant-faith-of-the-ancient-christians-9781557255532","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}