Book Reviews

Have you read any good books lately? Perhaps a book that has moved you in some way and that you want to share with others. Well, you can write a short review and we would love to publish it in the weekly bulletin and/or post it on our website. Today we have a review of The Practice of Prayer from Barbara Bloom. Her other mini-reviews are posted on our website, just check the sidebar “Book Reviews.”

The rules are simple: 1) only send reviews of books you like; 2) 300 words maximum; and, 3) the book doesn’t have to be religious, just edifying.

Review: The Practice of Prayer
By Barbara Bloom

THE PRACTICE OF PRAYER by Margaret Guenther (1998). Cambridge Massachusetts: Cowley Publications. ISBN 1 56101 152 5 (200 pp.) plus a discussion of resources (6 pp.) and suggested discussion questions by chapters (6 pp.).

This book is volume 4 of the New Church’s Teaching Series. Margaret Guenther is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director and retreat leader. She begins this rich little volume with a series of questions common to all and confesses that she had reservations about writing a book on prayer. Because the assigned title of the book refers to the PRACTICE of prayer, however, she felt that she could write it. All of us, who pray, PRACTICE it. We never become experts. It is similar to practicing music. Few of us are experts in music, nevertheless, we all rejoice in our music making, especially after we have practiced. Through the two sections of the book, “Spirituality and Prayer” and “Prayer in the Midst of Life” Guenther leads the reader reassuringly through prayer steps and possibilities that can help us to rejoice in our prayer life, as well, especially as we practice it. This is a very rich, friendly little book that I heartily recommend to everyone.