Praying with the Church: Developing a Daily Rhythm for Spiritual Formation

I obtained a copy of this by swapping it for a copy of my Praying the Pattern. Scot McKnight, the author blogs at Jesuscreed. I thought it would be interesting as a swap because both deal with regular patterned praying and encouraging it.

Scot’s book is the kind of thing that I would give or commend to a no-longer new Christian who is seeking to develop their devotional life and perhaps been finding that the normal, usually evangelical protestant, ways need suping up or changing. It’s written in an accessible way and deals with some of the typical objections or hang-ups that prots have about using office-prayers. Clearly he is influenced by Phyllis Tickle (who wrote the preface) and her books of hours (e.g.). He uses some nice analogies to help make his points, notably the idea of personal prayer being within the larger structure of the church’s prayer. He introduces the main streams of office-style devotion with helpful sharing of his own first impressions and how he and his wife found their way in to using them.

If I have a downside to comment on, it’s to do with my own Lord’s prayer perspective. So, if Scot reads the copy I swapped with him, he may think about the distinction between cathedral and monastic offices a bit more, as this was not really dealt with and he tends to focus on the monastic strands. I’d be interested, too, to know what he makes of the idea that perhaps, if early Christians had been so caught up with polemical attitudes towards Judaism, they might have developed office-praying structured around the Lord’s prayer rather than simply reciting it verbatim.

There is some crossover between our books in terms of arguments commending office-praying and dealing with practicalities.

So, worth getting if you are thinking about starting office praying or wanting to encourage someone else to.

Amazon copy ...