I live in Sweden and ordered your inspiring book in November. I have read it in portions over Christmas. Very relevant stuff to our time, I think. And I love your style of writing! (Bang on the beetroot, as we would say in Swedish.)
As soon as I had finished it, I sent it to a friend in England (Luton), but I still have access to it as an audio book, so I am actually listening to it again now in this format.
My question (maybe a bit off topic, sorry): are there plans to have Fully Alive translated into Swedish? It certainly deserves to be published here as well.
I absolutely loved Fully Alive. Keen to share it with Christian and non-Christian friends alike and chat it through. Already planning to buy a few copies to start conversations with a couple of friends.
My question (to myself most of all), is how to live this out in 2025 in London, with 2 kids, a job, stuck in a flat that's only just big enough?
But also, chatting to others (especially not in church circles) I don't think Christians often realise how different the lives we live are!
Our church in East London has food after the morning service every other Sunday - about 80-100 people eat a simple meal - Windrush generation old ladies from St Lucia sit next to babies of parents from Portugal and Brazil, doctors sit with unemployed. It's a rich and increasingly unique tapestry of London life. We have a homegroup/ small group that rotates around local people and we eat together, read the bible and pray. For us, it's not out of the ordinary to have people in our home, eating with us, hanging out with our children.
As a Christian, I'm aware just how divergent my life in church and then life among neighbours and colleagues is. I think the question to me is, how can I, in some small (but hopefully increasing) way, bring together these groups. I want to share the treasure of life together that we have as church, as well as the treasure of the gospel itself, that fuels us to do these things.
So, to Christians, "What are you already doing in your life/ church, etc that you can invite people into? How can you use what you already have?" Small steps on a longer journey.
To non-Christians/ non church people, "Who is around you already doing the things that we're talking about? Maybe it's a church group offering food, a baby and parent group?" You might feel lonely/ isolated, but there are so many things happening, you just need to look for them.
"Are you willing to visit a slightly odd group of people, in possibly a shabby old building, that doesn't have the shine of something professional, but where you might find true life and where people might actually want to serve you, rather than just take from you?"
Don't know if any of that is useful. But thanks again for writing Fully Alive and for the Sacred.
(In case it's useful, I'm male, 40s, theologically reformed baptist (but try not to be a theo bro), London, long-ago friend of Chris's from UCCF days. He has my email if you need to follow up)
I read your book on my Kindle, highlighting and noting many passages... So, my question, Elizabeth, is... Where the hell did I put my Kindle?! I've just turned the house upside down looking for it! Any ideas?
Ok, I think I have my question. I’ll preface it by saying that I had on my reading list both Fully Alive and Life after doom by Brian McLaren, and I chose to read you first because I felt that Fully Alive would help me gird my loins to confront Life after doom. It did, but I still haven’t finished LAD and I’m having to take it much more slowly than usual (in fact I’m planning to sandwich it by re-listening to you straight afterwards!). The main reason I’m finding it so hard to read is because I have three young kids.
One of the things that keeps returning to me from the autobiographical strand in Fully Alive was the story of your daughter singing in the car that wonderful song from Matilda and your reaction, knowing that it’s likely the next generation won’t have the future they are promised implicitly and explicitly everywhere in our culture (even down to the slogans on children’s T-shirts!). It’s like they’ve been born straight into the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and have no clue what it’s like to work for anything other than self actualisation.
How do we prepare them for what’s ahead? How do we teach them grit and self-sacrifice and steadfast love and all the things you talk about in the book, but child sized? All around them are messages that they can have it all and there is guaranteed safety and comfort and growth and prosperity in their futures. Our attempts to divert those messages and emphasise a path of (non-material) goodness are met with quizzical looks. How do we raise them to shine while everything collapses around them?
What motivates you to be fully alive? Is it the Holy Spirit working within you because of your devotion to God or do you know that striving to be a good Christian by sticking with the required rituals, will result in you being fully alive?
That’s an excellent question! My own answer would be: I tried really hard with the second option, and it didn’t work out very well. Eventually over the course of several retreats God managed to get across to me that it’s all about being loved and letting that flow out into the world, rather than dependent on trying (and always failing) to be good enough
I can’t wait to get a physical copy in my hands!! I listened to the audiobook over Christmas and haven’t felt so encouraged and inspired for a long time. My husband is now listening to (and loving) it as he was so fed up of me constantly starting utterances with, “Elizabeth Oldfield says…” 😆
I have a question about parenting but it’s not fully formed in my mind yet, so I’ll get back to you when it is.
We are in the middle of a teaching series in our church that we have written on the back of your book. We’ve made fully alive recommended reading for the series for life groups. It’s gone down so well! Thanks for writing it. If you ever fancy doing an evening in Lincoln, we’d love to host you!
Hi Elizabeth, can't send you a message because I don't have the app and can't comment on locked posts, but I'm wondering if I can please get a gift subscription? (Bruderhof novice, no money! 😅) Thanks very much. Really looking forward to finishing the All Fours piece, and more from you!
I loved your book and press it on friends, Christian, Agnostic, Atheist alike. It always gets a good response. My question would be, what effect did you most hope in your heart to have in people's lives with this book? And did that differ between how you hoped to affect Christians and non-Christians?
Hi Elizabeth! I think I've got two questions to throw at you here, both on a theme of "left vs right"!
1. The role of "reason" (or the "left brain")!
You've championed the work of Iain McGilchrist, who argues persuasively that our western forms of attention have become skewed (we prioritise the "left brain" approach of abstraction, computation, and representation over and above the "right brain" approach of imagination, holistic meaning, and presence, when actually our brains are designed to be lead by the "right brain" and only served - instead of mastered - by the "left brain").
What I'm curious about is: what legitimate and beneficial roles do you think any virtues typically associated with "left brain" have to play, as we seek to be fully alive - both individually and as we interact with other people? How do we avoid falling into the simplistic trap of assuming "left brain = bad, right brain = good"? (Though I'm aware that, ironically, McGilchrist would probably say that such straw manning and false dichotomies are usually the product of the left brain)!
For example, I've just been conversing with somebody on Twitter who has clearly gotten himself incredibly confused: he's been committing the typical incoherent thinking that one tends to witness in our society, of both trying to hold the view that "morality is just subjective", and "you should never harm anybody" (which, if he means it, would be an example of him treating at least one moral stance as objective, not subjective)!
Does this person need good relational interaction, and imaginative inspiration? Absolutely. But does he also need to gain some clarity as to how his position is logically incoherent? I think so too. I couldn't just dismiss that as "oh, it's just left brain logic chopping". It seems to me that these types of analytical tools (while they certainly can be used for mental masturbation) are still quite important to help people realise when they're being duped or someone is trying to pull wool over their eyes (e.g. seeing past the rhetoric of a demagogue).
So where would you say that this kind of cold, logical approach fits in? e.g. Is that just an old school red herring? Is it a tool in a box? Does it need a spoonful of right-brained sugar to help it go down? Where would its proper place be, if it has a place at all, as part of being fully alive?
2. Rebelling against "left vs right" conflict
I am so sick and bored of all the fighting and arguing that's going on, about whether or not somebody is a "Leftist" or "Far Right". You'd think the greatest existential question of humanity is not the vertical one of "up or down" (i.e. how do we relate to the great truths of the heavens - of whether or not there is a God) but "left vs right" (i.e. which tribe or team am I playing on, and which shirt is everybody else wearing and how can I tell).
However, at the same time, if there is such a thing as a "political spectrum", then blatantly some of our views on some things will probably, whether we like it or not, fall onto it (e.g. I might be "left wing" on climate and socialised medicine, but "right wing" on matters of sexuality and abortion).
How do you navigate the tension of, on the one hand, wanting to cut through the tribal crap and make connections with people across it, while at the same time knowing that some of your views will inevitably position you somewhere on that spectrum, and you may just have to admit it some day?
I live in Sweden and ordered your inspiring book in November. I have read it in portions over Christmas. Very relevant stuff to our time, I think. And I love your style of writing! (Bang on the beetroot, as we would say in Swedish.)
As soon as I had finished it, I sent it to a friend in England (Luton), but I still have access to it as an audio book, so I am actually listening to it again now in this format.
My question (maybe a bit off topic, sorry): are there plans to have Fully Alive translated into Swedish? It certainly deserves to be published here as well.
Bang on the beetroot. That is amazing
I love beetroot, my husband (quite emphatically) doesn’t. Bang on the beetroot feels like it might become my phrase of the year!
I absolutely loved Fully Alive. Keen to share it with Christian and non-Christian friends alike and chat it through. Already planning to buy a few copies to start conversations with a couple of friends.
My question (to myself most of all), is how to live this out in 2025 in London, with 2 kids, a job, stuck in a flat that's only just big enough?
But also, chatting to others (especially not in church circles) I don't think Christians often realise how different the lives we live are!
Our church in East London has food after the morning service every other Sunday - about 80-100 people eat a simple meal - Windrush generation old ladies from St Lucia sit next to babies of parents from Portugal and Brazil, doctors sit with unemployed. It's a rich and increasingly unique tapestry of London life. We have a homegroup/ small group that rotates around local people and we eat together, read the bible and pray. For us, it's not out of the ordinary to have people in our home, eating with us, hanging out with our children.
As a Christian, I'm aware just how divergent my life in church and then life among neighbours and colleagues is. I think the question to me is, how can I, in some small (but hopefully increasing) way, bring together these groups. I want to share the treasure of life together that we have as church, as well as the treasure of the gospel itself, that fuels us to do these things.
So, to Christians, "What are you already doing in your life/ church, etc that you can invite people into? How can you use what you already have?" Small steps on a longer journey.
To non-Christians/ non church people, "Who is around you already doing the things that we're talking about? Maybe it's a church group offering food, a baby and parent group?" You might feel lonely/ isolated, but there are so many things happening, you just need to look for them.
"Are you willing to visit a slightly odd group of people, in possibly a shabby old building, that doesn't have the shine of something professional, but where you might find true life and where people might actually want to serve you, rather than just take from you?"
Don't know if any of that is useful. But thanks again for writing Fully Alive and for the Sacred.
(In case it's useful, I'm male, 40s, theologically reformed baptist (but try not to be a theo bro), London, long-ago friend of Chris's from UCCF days. He has my email if you need to follow up)
Love this, thank you!
I read your book on my Kindle, highlighting and noting many passages... So, my question, Elizabeth, is... Where the hell did I put my Kindle?! I've just turned the house upside down looking for it! Any ideas?
Ok, I think I have my question. I’ll preface it by saying that I had on my reading list both Fully Alive and Life after doom by Brian McLaren, and I chose to read you first because I felt that Fully Alive would help me gird my loins to confront Life after doom. It did, but I still haven’t finished LAD and I’m having to take it much more slowly than usual (in fact I’m planning to sandwich it by re-listening to you straight afterwards!). The main reason I’m finding it so hard to read is because I have three young kids.
One of the things that keeps returning to me from the autobiographical strand in Fully Alive was the story of your daughter singing in the car that wonderful song from Matilda and your reaction, knowing that it’s likely the next generation won’t have the future they are promised implicitly and explicitly everywhere in our culture (even down to the slogans on children’s T-shirts!). It’s like they’ve been born straight into the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and have no clue what it’s like to work for anything other than self actualisation.
How do we prepare them for what’s ahead? How do we teach them grit and self-sacrifice and steadfast love and all the things you talk about in the book, but child sized? All around them are messages that they can have it all and there is guaranteed safety and comfort and growth and prosperity in their futures. Our attempts to divert those messages and emphasise a path of (non-material) goodness are met with quizzical looks. How do we raise them to shine while everything collapses around them?
What motivates you to be fully alive? Is it the Holy Spirit working within you because of your devotion to God or do you know that striving to be a good Christian by sticking with the required rituals, will result in you being fully alive?
That’s an excellent question! My own answer would be: I tried really hard with the second option, and it didn’t work out very well. Eventually over the course of several retreats God managed to get across to me that it’s all about being loved and letting that flow out into the world, rather than dependent on trying (and always failing) to be good enough
I can’t wait to get a physical copy in my hands!! I listened to the audiobook over Christmas and haven’t felt so encouraged and inspired for a long time. My husband is now listening to (and loving) it as he was so fed up of me constantly starting utterances with, “Elizabeth Oldfield says…” 😆
I have a question about parenting but it’s not fully formed in my mind yet, so I’ll get back to you when it is.
We are in the middle of a teaching series in our church that we have written on the back of your book. We’ve made fully alive recommended reading for the series for life groups. It’s gone down so well! Thanks for writing it. If you ever fancy doing an evening in Lincoln, we’d love to host you!
Oh thank you Joy, this is really encouraging
Hi Elizabeth, can't send you a message because I don't have the app and can't comment on locked posts, but I'm wondering if I can please get a gift subscription? (Bruderhof novice, no money! 😅) Thanks very much. Really looking forward to finishing the All Fours piece, and more from you!
Done! Yes I’d forgotten the thing about the app (you can message without on desktop version, I have also deleted app for focus reasons)
Thanks so much!
Loved the book! I noticed one typo— Maria Popova’s last name.
Drat thanks
If you hadn’t had that rapturous experience as a teenager, do you think you would still have been drawn to the church?
I loved your book and press it on friends, Christian, Agnostic, Atheist alike. It always gets a good response. My question would be, what effect did you most hope in your heart to have in people's lives with this book? And did that differ between how you hoped to affect Christians and non-Christians?
Hi Elizabeth! I think I've got two questions to throw at you here, both on a theme of "left vs right"!
1. The role of "reason" (or the "left brain")!
You've championed the work of Iain McGilchrist, who argues persuasively that our western forms of attention have become skewed (we prioritise the "left brain" approach of abstraction, computation, and representation over and above the "right brain" approach of imagination, holistic meaning, and presence, when actually our brains are designed to be lead by the "right brain" and only served - instead of mastered - by the "left brain").
What I'm curious about is: what legitimate and beneficial roles do you think any virtues typically associated with "left brain" have to play, as we seek to be fully alive - both individually and as we interact with other people? How do we avoid falling into the simplistic trap of assuming "left brain = bad, right brain = good"? (Though I'm aware that, ironically, McGilchrist would probably say that such straw manning and false dichotomies are usually the product of the left brain)!
For example, I've just been conversing with somebody on Twitter who has clearly gotten himself incredibly confused: he's been committing the typical incoherent thinking that one tends to witness in our society, of both trying to hold the view that "morality is just subjective", and "you should never harm anybody" (which, if he means it, would be an example of him treating at least one moral stance as objective, not subjective)!
Does this person need good relational interaction, and imaginative inspiration? Absolutely. But does he also need to gain some clarity as to how his position is logically incoherent? I think so too. I couldn't just dismiss that as "oh, it's just left brain logic chopping". It seems to me that these types of analytical tools (while they certainly can be used for mental masturbation) are still quite important to help people realise when they're being duped or someone is trying to pull wool over their eyes (e.g. seeing past the rhetoric of a demagogue).
So where would you say that this kind of cold, logical approach fits in? e.g. Is that just an old school red herring? Is it a tool in a box? Does it need a spoonful of right-brained sugar to help it go down? Where would its proper place be, if it has a place at all, as part of being fully alive?
2. Rebelling against "left vs right" conflict
I am so sick and bored of all the fighting and arguing that's going on, about whether or not somebody is a "Leftist" or "Far Right". You'd think the greatest existential question of humanity is not the vertical one of "up or down" (i.e. how do we relate to the great truths of the heavens - of whether or not there is a God) but "left vs right" (i.e. which tribe or team am I playing on, and which shirt is everybody else wearing and how can I tell).
However, at the same time, if there is such a thing as a "political spectrum", then blatantly some of our views on some things will probably, whether we like it or not, fall onto it (e.g. I might be "left wing" on climate and socialised medicine, but "right wing" on matters of sexuality and abortion).
How do you navigate the tension of, on the one hand, wanting to cut through the tribal crap and make connections with people across it, while at the same time knowing that some of your views will inevitably position you somewhere on that spectrum, and you may just have to admit it some day?
There, that's probably quite enough! :)
Thank you again!
PB