Chaos and Grace: Discovering the Liberating Work of the Holy Spirit - Hardcover

It's no secret that we are addicted to control. We work to control our time, our TVs, our weight, and even our faith lives. We strive for efficiency and quantifiable results. But we soon find out that all that control is exhausting. And it is contrary to God's plan for us. In Chaos and Grace, Mark Galli offers readers freedom from the need for control and order by reintroducing them to the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit. In this insightful book, Galli exposes our individual mistakes and the church's foibles and points the way to grace-which, as it happens, usually lies through chaos and crisis. Through Scripture he shows us that this problem is not unique to modern believers and helps us learn from the stories of God's people through the ages as they gave up and gave in to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.

"To my knowledge, Chaos and Grace is the first story-framed study of the wonderful themes of the liberating presence of God's Spirit--from Genesis to Revelation we get Spirit, Spirit, Spirit, and where the Spirit is, there is freedom."--Scot McKnight, Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies, North Park University; author of One.Life: Jesus Calls, We Follow

"Galli calls the church to awake to the Spirit of God--the Spirit who cannot be programmed, coerced, or manipulated. This book will challenge the way you think about the church in America."--Margaret Feinberg, www.margaretfeinberg.com; author of Scouting the Divine and The Organic God

"Mark always makes me think and wrestle with issues--generally mine! Biblical, solid, and honest--Chaos and Grace will force you not just to think but to examine yourself."--Bob Roberts Jr., senior pastor, NorthWood Church; author of Transformation and Glocalization

"Chaos and Grace shows the crucial value of the Holy Spirit's 'power of disorder' as contrasted to the comfortable and easy life of many modern churches. I highly recommend it."--Vinson Synan, dean emeritus, Regent University School of Divinity

"Mark Galli has had it with the idea that life can be controlled or in any way managed. He's yearning for Jesus to really mean freedom. Call this a 'theology of liberation' for evangelicals!"--Paul F. M. Zahl, former dean and president, Trinity School for Ministry; author of Grace in Practice: A Theology of Everyday Life

"Disturbing, upsetting, and disrupting. I finished this book shaken; the more I ponder what I've read, the more I suspect that the things it left rattled are my chains."--Carolyn Arends, recording artist and author