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Christians – especially Catholic Christians – live in anxious times. Truths once held as sacred and lasting are now challenged, often from within the faith community; church leaders no longer command deference and respect; the voice of the church is considered by society as ‘just another opinion’.
This is the context in which Overcoming Fear is offered to those who genuinely seek to understand and develop their sense of connection with the mystery we call God. Tim Lockwood acknowledges that we live in changing and challenging times but suggests that the times were ever so, especially in the life and ministry of Jesus whose teaching and insights and relationship with the Father developed in similar times of fear and uncertainty.
How Jesus responded to the times is the model for how we as his followers may respond to our own times, resisting fear and powerlessness in seeking the will of God, deepening our relationship with God and living lives of faithfulness and trust and love.
Faithful to the Bible witness, sensitive to ancient Christian spiritual traditions – for example the writings of Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross – as well as insights of contemporary teachers like Richard Rohr and Walter Brueggemann, Tim Lockwood’s experience as director and counsellor encourages us in our search for God’s purposes and how we may overcome fear within that journey, deepening our understanding of God and God’s invitation to closeness, growth and faith.
Overcoming Fear is a book for contemporary disciples who are willing to take seriously the invitation to acknowledge fear in their spiritual journey and to overcome that fear so as to grow in confidence in their relationship with the God of compassion and love.
Tim Lockwood is an experienced spiritual director and Australian Christian Brother. Born and educated in Melbourne, he gained a B.A. and Dip. Ed. from Melbourne University and taught in schools in Victoria for some years before studying at the Institute of Formative Spirituality at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, where he gained a Ph.D. in spirituality. Since 2008, Tim has been a lecturer at the Institute of Spirituality and Religious Formation at Tangaza University College, Nairobi, Kenya.
