Starting with my first book, Coffeehouse Theology (NavPress, 2008), I have authored and co-authored commercially and independently published books on topics that include Christian living, Bible study, writing, and creativity.
Prayer, Christian living and theology books:
- Reconnect: Spiritual Restoration from Digital Distraction
- Flee, Be Silent, Pray: Ancient Prayers for Anxious Christians
- A Christian Survival Guide: A Lifeline to Faith and Growth
- The Good News of Revelation (co-author Larry Helyer)
- Unfollowers: Unlikely Lessons on Faith from the Doubters of Jesus (co-author Derek Cooper)
- Hazardous: Committing to the Cost of Following Jesus (co-author Derek Cooper)
- Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life
- First Draft Father: A Write-from-Home Dad Finds the Joy/Anxiety/ Exhaustion/Wonder of Parenting
Books on creativity, writing, and spirituality for creative writers.
- Creating Space: The Case for Everyday Creativity (Kindle Bestseller)
- Write without Crushing Your Soul (Kindle Bestseller)
- Pray, Write, Grow, Cultivating Prayer and Writing Together (Kindle Bestseller)
- The Contemplative Writer (Kindle Bestseller)
- The One Original Cloistered Genius: Enduring Adversity and Absurdity through the Savage Humor of Thomas Merton
- 5 Soul Care Practices to Beat Digital Distraction: Take Control of Your Time, Restore Your Soul
- 10 Ways to Use Your Phone Less… and to Pray a Bit More: A Companion Guide to Reconnect
A Bit More about My Books…
Flee, Be Silent, Pray: Ancient Prayers for Anxious Christians
The updated and expanded version with Herald Press releases February 12, 2019.
“Ed Cyzewski is reaching back into the history of Christian practice to recover a contemplative tradition. If you’re looking for a still point in our turning world—the silence at the heart of faithful action—you should read this book.”
—Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, author of Reconstructing the Gospel
“If you find yourself in a prayer rut, if you find your prayer life dying on the vine, pick up Flee, Be Silent, Pray and discover the freedom of contemplative prayer.”
—Seth Haines, author of Coming Clean
“Rooted in history and ancient practices and grounded in both current politics and religious movements, Flee, Be Silent, Pray is incredibly relevant in an age of turmoil and anxiety. It’s a book I will turn to time and time again.”
—D. L. Mayfield, author of Assimilate or Go Home
“I hope evangelicals discover the contemplative prayer practices that Ed Cyzewski introduces in this fine book and incorporate them into their lives. . . . Flee, Be Silent, Pray is like a toolkit of implements we all can use to shape our souls and change the world.”
—Jon M. Sweeney, author of The Pope’s Cat series, from foreword
“This is a book that gives space for believers who need more than answers and certainties. This is a book for believers who want to find the presence of God in both life and death.”
—Caleb Wilde, author of Confessions of a Funeral Director
“This book will challenge and change you. . . . In the end you will have discovered that, instead of a typical how-to book, you have encountered a written icon: a window into God, allowing for deeper intimacy and understanding.”
—Tara Owens, author of Embracing the Body and At Play in God’s Creation
“With gentle and hard-won wisdom, Ed Cyzewski opens our eyes to the ways our culture—both the secular and the Christian—has created ‘raw materials for anxiety production.’ His offering to anxious Christians is beautifully simple: ancient paths that reveal and heal.”
—Christiana N. Peterson, author of Mystics and Misfits
Description
What if prayer could be simple rather than strenuous? Anxious, results-driven Christians can never pray enough, serve enough, or study enough. But what if God is calling us not to frenzied activity but to a simple spiritual encounter? What if we must merely receive what God has already given us?
In Flee, Be Silent, Pray, writer and contemplative retreat leader Ed Cyzewski guides readers out of the anxiety factory of contemporary Christianity and toward a God whose love astounds those quiet long enough to receive it.
With helpful guidance into solitude, contemplative prayer, and practices such as lectio divina and the Examen, Cyzewski guides readers toward the Christ whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.
Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life
Coffeehouse Theology will help the reader understand, shape, and live out practical Christian theology in the postmodern context. Beginning with the relationship of cultural context and theology, Coffeehouse Theology roots theology in the church’s mission to be the presence of God’s Kingdom. Far from dividing the church, theology unites the church in a dynamic dialogue about the presence of God, his revelation in scripture, and the interpretations of the historic and global churches.
Endorsements
“Coffeehouse Theology is the perfect antidote for the increasing distance between academic theology and everyday life. With wit and grace, Cyzewski shows how theology not only connects us with God but also moves us out of ourselves into loving ministry next door and around the world. This is the ideal text for adult Sunday school classes and home discussion groups.”
– William Dyrness of Fuller Theological Seminary
“Ed Cyzewski is uniquely capable of providing an account of the challenges facing Christian ministry and witness in the contemporary setting and clear and practical assistance for communities seeking fresh expressions of the Christian faith in the context of postmodern culture.”
– John Franke of Biblical Theological Seminary
A Christian Survival Guide: A Lifeline for Faith and Growth
No one ever plans to fail in their faith. We all think we’ll be the kind of Christian who follows the straight and narrow, ending our days with the relief of knowing we were ultimately a good and faithful servant. So why do so many leave that road? What enables some to survive as Christians when so many others have faltered?
With A Christian Survival Guide, Ed Cyzewski steps up to be your trail guide and provide some possible answers. He addresses some of the biggest, toughest questions in Christianity, including:
- Disturbing Bible stories
- Hell and what it means
- Is the Bible “true”?
- The question of evil
- Money and the church
- Evangelizing when no one wants to listen
Candid and wry, Cyzewski deals with the tension of hard questions without resorting to empty answers, clichés, relativism, or the smug certainty that can so often drive seekers and strugglers further away.
Cyzewski also has a knack of making long-ago biblical figures absolutely recognizable in today’s issues. This survival guide is not meant to be a “one size fits all” handbook. It is a first step to confronting the big issues and challenges of a life of faith—even the ones that Christians fear most. Cyzewski writes for those who both care and question deeply, and offers survival tips to help readers move from living on the edge to a place of health and life.
Order a Christian Survival Guide today from Amazon or Kregel Publications.
Ed Cyzewski: Author // Contemplative 
Dear Ed,
I don’t know you but stumbled upon your site by way of stumbling onto Art of Simple.com. I find your writing touchable and inspirational.
Thanks for that. You were a blessing to me today and I know I was meant to find your site. You have given me courage to answer a nagging calling to write. I have no fear now, no hang-ups and most of all no more excuses to procrastinate. I will be obedient to God’s calling and write.
God bless you and I pray financial blessings to you as well.
Thanks again,
Tamika
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Thanks so much for the encouragement! I really appreciate it. And blessings to you as you write!
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