Contrary to popular belief, spirituality is no excuse for mediocrity. Dedication and commitment to the things of God does not enhance academic failure, it promotes academic excellence. Success for a Christian Student is defined as spiritual buoyancy and academic progression. You must be able to affect lives on campus and at the same time maintain a splendid academic performance. The problem of academic excellence that exasperates Christian Students is the cause of their deeper problem of abstinence from fellowship activities on campus. Academic success has become the major reason for most Christian Students’ estrangement from God. Those who get it are not in faith while those in faith seem not near it, no matter how hard they tried. It is pathetic to see students who are fervent in the Spirit and burning for the Lord fail in their academics. They make great impacts in the ministry but fail to extend the impact into their academics. They teach others about the rules, guidelines and secrets of success but they are not successful themselves. They are victims of academic failure. This is pitiable and should be given immediate attention since it has given so many people a wrong impression about the Christian Faith and student-hood. This book will help you balance both your academics and your spiritual life, and also give you principles that will make you excel in both with ease.

Offers both a theoretical and concrete example of what W. E. B. Du Bois called “spiritual strivings.”

Cultivating the Spirit THIS GROUNDBREAKING WORK IS BASED on a five-year study of how students change during the college years and the role college plays in facilitating the development of their spiritual qualities. Students, the authors argue, grapple with the big questions in life: Who am I? What are my values? Do I have a mission in life? Why am I in college? What kind of person do I want to be? What sort of world do I want to help to create? Their answers to these questions help determine their academic and career choices and are tied to the development of personal qualities such as empathy, caring, and social responsibility. The study finds that, while students' religious engagement declines during college, at the same time they become substantially more caring, tolerant, connected with others, and actively egaged in a spiritual quest. Spiritual growth also enhances academic performance, leadership development, and satisfaction with college. The study provides strong evidence pointing to specific experiences during college that can contribute to students' spiritual growth. The need for spiritual development in college is apparent. Two-thirds of the students in the study express a strong interest in spiritual matters, well over half report that their professors never encourage discussions of religious or spiritual matters, and about the same proportion report that professors never provide opportunities to discuss the purpose and meaning of life. Cultivating the Spirit aims to raise the awareness of academic administrators, faculty, and the public at large to the vital role that spirituality plays in student learning and development. Throughout the book, the authors identify strategies for enhancing students' development and encourage the academy to give greater priority to the spiritual aspects of students' educational and personal development.

"An exciting vision of the future" --Michael Eric Dyson Everything Is Spiritual is an unexpected and compelling invitation to see your life in a whole new way. We have the great moments of our lives, the highs, those times when we soar, when it all makes sense, when it feels like it all has purpose and meaning. And then there are all those other moments—the lows and aches and failures and struggles and experiences that leave us wondering what the point of it all is. Are our lives ultimately bits and pieces and fragments—you try to find a little peace and hope and then it’s over? Or is there more going on here? In our increasingly polarized and disoriented world, Everything Is Spiritual gives us a radical new take on how it all fits together, how it works, how it’s all connected. Part memoir, part extended riff on the quantum nature of reality, part history of the universe, Rob Bell takes us back through the twists and turns and struggles of his story in order to help us see the larger story so that we can reconnect with our story.

Picking up on the monastic tradition of creating a "rule of life" that allows for regular space for the practice of spiritual disciplines, Ruth Haley Barton takes you more deeply into understanding seven key spiritual disciplines along with practical ideas for weaving them into everyday life.

This book is about getting the most out of seminary. Seminary can be rich and rewarding, but also disorienting. In addition to the typical challenges of doing graduate studies, your experiences in seminary have the potential to affect how you see God, other people, and yourself. The stakes are high, but the good news is that you are not alone! In Surviving and Thriving in Seminary, two experienced professors (and former seminary students) tell you what to expect and how to navigate your years in seminary. They give you advice on how to prepare your own heart and relationships, how to manage your time and energy, and how to acquire the study skills you need. This essential book encourages and equips current and prospective seminary students to get the most out of their time in seminary. - Publisher.

Winner of the 2008 Critics' Choice Awards presented by the American Educational Studies Association This engaging book offers a personal look at how centering spirituality in an academic life transforms its very foundations—its epistemology, paradigm, and methods—and becomes the site for spiritual healing and service to the world. Focusing primarily on her work in Ghana, West Africa, Cynthia B. Dillard presents a unique perspective on Africa as a site for transformative possibilities for African American academics/scholars and explores the deeper spiritual meanings of being "African." Through poetry, personal narrative, meditations, and journal entries, Dillard shares her experiences as an African American scholar and, in the process, provides a concrete example of what W. E. B. Du Bois called "spiritual strivings."