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Demarest does highlight specific soul care ministries that can and should be carried out in the
body of Christ.
Finally, one of the most significant emphases of Demarest is his openness to
receiving spiritual guidance and help from ancient traditions of Christian spirituality. His book
begins with his own story and the tremendous spiritual help he received from those in the Roman
Catholic tradition, especially at the Benedictine Abbey in Pecos, NM. He devotes a substantial
effort to defending to his predominantly evangelical readership the God-honoring wisdom and
life-giving vitality of this ancient tradition of spirituality. "God was leading me to honor what
was true in my own tradition while welcoming back authentic Christian insights and practices
from the older tradition. He was leading me to integrate the new and the old to balance
orthodoxy (right beliefs) and orthopathy (right affections) and orthopraxy (right actions)" [BD,
29].
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Demarest highlights six "treasures" he experienced in his sabbatical retreat at Pecos: (1)
A Christ-centered orthodoxy; (2) the commitment to community; (3) the practice of spiritual
disciplines: (4) spiritual leaders who see their role as that of leading others into the presence of
God; (5) a balanced approach to honoring the place and work of the Holy Spirit; and (6) a
connection with classic understandings of Christian spirituality as expressed through spiritual
masters of history [BD, 31-35]. Demarest does highlight the wisdom of the spiritual classics,
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Demarest found that the renewal teams he had profited from were downplaying
distinctively Roman Catholic doctrines in favor of more evangelical approaches to faith. "In
essence, they were moving toward me in certain important matters (certain doctrines) as I moved
toward them in others (spiritual practices and understanding about soul growth)." [BD, 30.]