If you've always wanted the opportunity to pull up a chair and join a Bible study with former president Jimmy Carter, Living Faith is just the audiobook for you. For those of other--even non-religious--persuasions, Carter's rather flat but still engagingly homespun reading offers insight into the deeply personal faith that has motivated Carter throughout his adult life, shaping his decisions as a businessman-farmer, father and husband, diplomat and humanitarian, and president. Living Faith gives as much weight to Carter's remembrances about growing up and living in Plains, Georgia, as to the Iran hostage crisis, the infamous Playboy interview, and the other events of Carter's political life. Sprinkled throughout are Bible stories, quoted chapter and verse; Carter's mission seems not so much to evangelize listeners about his specific Christian faith as to urge on others the gentle decency and humble commitment to good works that this memoir chronicles. Random House has also released an audio edition of Always a Reckoning and Other Poems, also read by Carter. (Running time: 90 minutes)


From Publishers Weekly
In this rich and very intimate spiritual autobiography, the former president shares his living Christian faith. Carter's deep faith is rooted in his family and community, and he traces the growth and development of his faith through his career in the Navy and various political offices, and through his work with Habitat for Humanity (which builds housing for poor Americans) and the Carter Center (an international peacemaking organization). Carter also discusses the impact that Soren Kierkegaard and Reinhold Niebuhr have had on his life. With engaging humor and self-effacement, Carter shares his personal stories of the lessons of faith he has learned as a son, husband and father. In addition, he shares his sense of justice and the ways his faith has affected his actions and personal lifestyle. Carter's book is an enjoyable look into the life of a man engaged in living out his faith in the public eye. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
YA. This first-person account provides an intimate look at the beliefs and practices of the man who helped to forge peace in the Middle East, yet who hammers nails to build homes for Habitat for Humanity since leaving the Oval Office. The focus is on the viability of Christianity in various arenas of life. Carter writes of the strength he drew from his faith at times of failure, in his family life, as the leader of one of the most powerful nations in the world, and in forgiveness for those who misunderstood or misjudged him. YAs will gain insight into this man's character as he chose to stand behind his convictions when peers disagreed. Carter's principles for peace makers may help to alleviate strife for young people who are living in turmoil, while others may find fulfillment in following his belief in the benefit of simply doing good for others. Carter also offers comfort as he reflects on the sustaining strength and peace he has drawn from his beliefs. After reading this account, most readers will feel as though they have spent time with the Maranatha Baptist Church's world-famous Sunday School teacher?and have received a warm welcome.?Janice DeLong, Liberty University, Lynchburg, VACopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Our 39th president not only keeps the faith but tells us how.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times Book Review, Michael Wright
... an appealing, straightforward account of a life marked, as many are, by unexpected successes and crushing failures, ... sprinkled with poems, bits of Scripture and snapshots of sessions with this worlds high and mighty ...


From Booklist
This is the former president's testimony of how Christian faith has shaped his life. Prayer comes naturally to him, he says, and if answers do not come as a voice from on high, come they do. On the strength of answered prayer, he quit a naval career to take over the family farming and crop-warehousing business when his father died. Because he believes in equality before God, he refused to join the White Citizens' Council, withstanding neighbors' threats to take their crops elsewhere (and discovering that many joined only because of intimidation). Because he believes in the permanence of what God brings together and because he learned forgiveness, he persevered in marriage, changing early, authoritarian ways and achieving deep companionship with Rosalynn. Because he takes Jesus' injunctions to serve the poor and to make peace seriously, his postpresidency has been devoted to projects such as Habitat for Humanity and the international peacemaking of the Carter Center. Because he believes Christians must spread the gospel, he has witnessed the faith to nonchurchgoers in his own county and among the urban poor and thereby become more convinced himself. Radiant with humility, compassion, and quiet strength, not to mention a sure knowledge of Scripture and how to cite it, this book continues that witness beautifully and movingly. Ray Olson


From Kirkus Reviews
An unforgettable spiritual autobiography filled with wisdom and pleas for justice. Former president Carter's faith has been forged in some hard times, and these are unstintingly detailed here. He eloquently describes the loss of both his parents and all three of his siblings to cancer, as well as his own bitter political defeats, bankruptcy, and ostracism in the 1960s for refusing to join the racist White Citizens' Council. Carter outlines his own faults, his remoteness as a husband in the early years of his marriage, and his authoritarian treatment of his three sons. What emerges from these trials is a patient maturity, unburdened by trite answers to the basic problem of theodicy. Life is hard, and Jimmy Carter knows it. But he has also sustained a growing faith in the One who has guided him since he accepted Christ as a child. Carter's faith is a fin-de-siŠcle cross between ecumenical pluralism and old-time southern gospel religion. His beliefs are theologically sophisticated (he has read widely among 20th-century theologians such as Barth, Tillich, and Neibuhr) but still simple enough that the whole book reads like one of his famous Sunday school classes, a homiletical treat that relies on personal experiences and storytelling to relay a complex message. In the end, Carter's faith weighs in heavily on the side of social justice (though, in true Baptist form, he also relates some experiences from his missionary evangelism trips). He places the international mediation work of his Carter Center in a spiritual context, describing behind-the-scenes peace talks with Haiti's General Cedras and the late Kim Il Sung of North Korea, and issues a clarion call for peace through negotiation. He also writes spiritedly of his work for Habitat for Humanity, building affordable housing for the world's poor. Carter's life is best summarized by the title of one of his chapters: faith in action. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

For three decades, Jimmy Carter has regularly spent part of Sunday morning reading from Scripture and sharing his personal faith with neighbors, friends, and visitors at his Baptist church in Plains, Georgia. In Living Faith, he draws on this experience to offer lessons for life from the Bible, personal experience, and the examples of friends and family who have guided, challenged, and inspired him. For President Carter, faith finds its deepest expression in a life of compassion, reconciliation, and service to others. Living Faith is filled with stories of people whose lives have touched his - some from the world stage, more from modest walks of life.Living Faith is also a deeply personal account of the joys, heartbreaks, defeats, and achievements of President Carter's life as seen through the eyes of faith. Through all these struggles, and through his later years of political triumph and acclaim as one of the world's most respected peacemakers, Christian belief has been President Carter's anchor and touchstone. In Living Faith, he shares more fully than ever before the personal meaning of his creed.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In this rich and very intimate spiritual autobiography, the former president shares his living Christian faith. Carter's deep faith is rooted in his family and community, and he traces the growth and development of his faith through his career in the Navy and various political offices, and through his work with Habitat for Humanity (which builds housing for poor Americans) and the Carter Center (an international peacemaking organization). Carter also discusses the impact that Soren Kierkegaard and Reinhold Niebuhr have had on his life. With engaging humor and self-effacement, Carter shares his personal stories of the lessons of faith he has learned as a son, husband and father. In addition, he shares his sense of justice and the ways his faith has affected his actions and personal lifestyle. Carter's book is an enjoyable look into the life of a man engaged in living out his faith in the public eye.

Library Journal

Our 39th president not only keeps the faith but tells us how.

School Library Journal

This first-person account provides an intimate look at the beliefs and practices of the man who helped to forge peace in the Middle East, yet who hammers nails to build homes for Habitat for Humanity since leaving the Oval Office. The focus is on the viability of Christianity in various arenas of life. Carter writes of the strength he drew from his faith at times of failure, in his family life, as the leader of one of the most powerful nations in the world, and in forgiveness for those who misunderstood or misjudged him. YAs will gain insight into this man's character as he chose to stand behind his convictions when peers disagreed. Carter's principles for peace makers may help to alleviate strife for young people who are living in turmoil, while others may find fulfillment in following his belief in the benefit of simply doing good for others. Carter also offers comfort as he reflects on the sustaining strength and peace he has drawn from his beliefs. After reading this account, most readers will feel as though they have spent time with the Maranatha Baptist Church's world-famous Sunday School teacher and have received a warm welcome. Janice DeLong, Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA

Kirkus Reviews

An unforgettable spiritual autobiography filled with wisdom and pleas for justice.

Former president Carter's faith has been forged in some hard times, and these are unstintingly detailed here. He eloquently describes the loss of both his parents and all three of his siblings to cancer, as well as his own bitter political defeats, bankruptcy, and ostracism in the 1960s for refusing to join the racist White Citizens' Council. Carter outlines his own faults, his remoteness as a husband in the early years of his marriage, and his authoritarian treatment of his three sons. What emerges from these trials is a patient maturity, unburdened by trite answers to the basic problem of theodicy. Life is hard, and Jimmy Carter knows it. But he has also sustained a growing faith in the One who has guided him since he accepted Christ as a child. Carter's faith is a fin-de-siècle cross between ecumenical pluralism and old-time southern gospel religion. His beliefs are theologically sophisticated (he has read widely among 20th-century theologians such as Barth, Tillich, and Neibuhr) but still simple enough that the whole book reads like one of his famous Sunday school classes, a homiletical treat that relies on personal experiences and storytelling to relay a complex message. In the end, Carter's faith weighs in heavily on the side of social justice (though, in true Baptist form, he also relates some experiences from his missionary evangelism trips). He places the international mediation work of his Carter Center in a spiritual context, describing behind-the-scenes peace talks with Haiti's General Cedras and the late Kim Il Sung of North Korea, and issues a clarion call for peace through negotiation. He also writes spiritedly of his work for Habitat for Humanity, building affordable housing for the world's poor.

Carter's life is best summarized by the title of one of his chapters: faith in action.