Prayer: A History » (REPRINT)

PHILIP ZALESKI, editor of The Best American Spiritual Writing, is the author of many acclaimed books on religion, including The Recollected Heart, Gifts of the Spirit, and The Book of Heaven. His most recent book is Prayer: A History, written with Carol Zaleski. He is a senior editor at Parabola as well as a research associate in religion at Smith College.

This landmark work presents prayer in all its richness and variety throughout history, across traditions, and around the globe. In a thorough and fascinating look at this spiritual practice, two of today’s most versatile and admired authorities on religion probe the language and fruits of prayer, its controversies, and its prospects for the future. With a focus on extraordinary stories of lives changed by prayer and on great works of literature and art inspired by it, Prayer: A History promises to be the standard on the subject for readers of all faiths.

Publishers Weekly

Subtitle notwithstanding, this ambitious volume is not exactly a history of prayer. It is rather an examination of how certain people and certain communities have practiced prayer. In the most satisfying section, the Zaleskis (both teach at Smith College; Philip Zaleski is the editor of the popular Best Spiritual Writing series) sketch four archetypes of prayer. There is the refugee, who clings to God with prayers of petition (the first example given of this type of prayer is the recently popular Jabez); the devotee (such as the Sufi who strives for unceasing prayer); the ecstatic, like Sri Ramakrishna or Teresa of Avila; and the contemplative, who "tastes ultimate reality," like ThErEse of Lisieux. The discussion of prayer's intersection with culture-the role of prayer in modern art, the place of prayer in civic spaces, and so forth-is not wholly successful, but each of the individual musings is interesting enough; indeed, some of the vignettes, such as abstract sculptor Constantin Brancusi's reverence for the prayerful icon makers he watched as a child, are delightful. Although some chapters feel arbitrary and the book tends to meander, even the most astute student of prayer will be challenged, surprised or inspired by it. (Nov. 2) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.