“To stir us towards love and good deeds” Amen!!
I love Tish Harrison Warren’s books! I was thrilled to see her next title is on my favorite season. Do I go all in on the colors, music and food throughout the holiday - yes I do! But I also try to keep in the center of it all what the season is really about.
Call me crazy but I preordered eight copies to give to friends and family this Thanksgiving. Thank you Tish for your wise and gentle reminder written in these pages.

Although I read Advent faster than this genre of book is meant to be read, Tish Harrison Warren's writing is unavoidably eye-opening at any speed. The rich heritage through which she views Advent broadens my own, and I'm looking forward to purchasing this one and re-reading it at the pace it deserves.

Overall a great addition to the Fullness of Time series and Warren is, as usual, worth the read. Well articulated and engaging the many aspects of Advent.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC. I've been really enjoying this series tracing the liturgical year and this volume is no exception, poetically written with clear and practical ways to enter into the season of advent.

The church calendar, writes Tish Harrison Warren, is like immersive theatre. In Advent: The Season of Hope, Warren invites us into participation and gives us an evocative reminder of the story we are part of. She explores how we can wait with the saints of the Old Testament, while at the same time waiting for Christ to act in our lives and then to return in glory. Advent is an ancient tradition abundant with symbolism, themes, and practices, and yet I was never taught any of it growing up. The older I get, the more I long for time to contemplate and to acknowledge the world for what it really is before diving into festivity. Warren explains how Advent is designed to create room for this. She richly details the themes and practices of Advent and how they can form our becoming. This book is not 'How To Advent' but it provides a feast of ideas to enable us to 'prepare Him room.' I felt that this book created space for all our longings, desires and griefs. If you find the world pressing in on you and you want to find room to view the world and yourself honestly so you can fully appreciate the abounding glory of the Incarnation, this is for you.

Thanks to NetGalley and IVP for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The book Advent, the Season of Hope, has a lot of good and uplifting information in it. It seems to be marketing itself a bit as a devotional plus, meaning it has devotional material plus some additional theological and educational material. In that sense, I like it.

Oftentimes devotionals can come across as lacking and trite, or perhaps a bit fluffy. This book does not give that vibe. However - the book is very disjointed. Each chapter seems like one long ramble - jumping from one thought to the next, without any clear delineation. I believe it would be more helpful to either format the writings into daily readings, or at least adding section headings to break up the material when the author starts a new thought. However, this may not work as there are so many little thoughts the author jots down - some of which are not fully formed and are only a sentence or two long. This is very much stream of consciousness writing.

There are many times where the author makes a statement, and you're expecting the "so what?" to be answered or fulfilled, but it is not. There are other times when the author makes statements that probably require deeper theological knowledge than your average Christian might have (I have a MA in Catholic theology, and regularly teach religion), but the author does not expand. She just expects that you have a background that knows what she's talking about and where she's coming from.

I think overall the book is good, but I will not be recommending it due to the aforementioned issues. It needs some better organization and some additional fleshing out before I could legitimately recommend it to anyone. I'm hopeful these issues will be corrected before the book is published. I believe it has a lot of promise!

I received this ARC from NetGalley. Opinions provided are my own.