The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime--A Manual for Prayer (v. 1) [Hardcover]

Phyllis Tickle (Author)

Book Description

Series: Divine Hours | Publication Date: March 14, 2000

The first volume in a trilogy of prayer manuals compiled by Publishers Weekly religion editor Phyllis Tickle as a contemporary Book of Hours to guide Christians gently yet authoritatively through the daily offices.

The Divine Hours is the first major literary and liturgical reworking of the sixth-century Benedictine Rule of fixed-hour prayer. This beautifully conceived and thoroughly modern three-volume guide will appeal to the theological novice as well as to the ecclesiastical sophisticate. Making primary use of the Book of Common Prayer and the writings of the Church Fathers, The Divine Hours is also a companion to the New Jerusalem Bible, from which it draws its Scripture readings. The trilogy blends prayer and praise in a way that, while extraordinarily fresh, respects and builds upon the ancient wisdom of Christianity.

The first book in the set, Prayers for Summertime, filled with prayers, psalms, and readings, is one readers will turn to again and again. Compact in size, it is perfect for those seeking greater spiritual depth. As a contemporary Book of Hours, The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime heralds a renewal of the tradition of disciplined daily prayer, and will whet the hunger of a large and eager audience for the follow-up autumn/winter and spring volumes.


The first book in the set, PRAYERS FOR SUMMERTIME, filled with prayers, psalms, and readings, is the one readers will turn to when making their daily summertime devotions. Compact, with a ribbon marker and deluxe endpapers, it is perfect for those seeking spiritual guidance and renewal. THE DIVINE HOURS: PRAYERS FOR SUMMERTIME heralds a new form of an old tradition and whets the hunger of a large and eager audience for the follow-up winter and spring volumes. -->

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Divine Hours trilogy is meant to be a manual for "fixed hour prayer"--an age-old discipline of saying prayers at certain times of the day. (Fixed prayer is also known as "liturgy of hours," "keeping the hours," or "saying the offices.") The psalms contained in the beautiful trilogy (summertime, wintertime, and springtime) read like ancient poems and are made even more meaningful and powerful when sung or chanted, according to Phyllis Tickle, who lovingly gathered and organized these rich volumes. The book is organized by dates, starting with the Monday nearest to June and closing with the Saturday closest to September 28. Upon each date, readers can find complete prayers for "The Morning Office" on through the "Vespers Office" (between 5 and 8 p.m.). The clear organization and elegantly designed pages make this an excellent companion for a time-honored form of private worship and devotion. Newcomers to fixed hour prayer as well as longstanding devotees will find this an appealing and impressive guide.

From Library Journal

Religious journalist Tickle's commodious volume is the first in a series of three aimed at renewing and reinvigorating the Benedictine tradition of fixed-hour prayer. Tickle draws from the Book of Common Prayer and the New Jerusalem Bible as well as a smattering of more contemporary hymns and poems; her great labor is imaginative and thoughtful and should be well received. For most collections. Not wholly unlike it, but rather more conservative in approach, is the Redemptorist Essential Catholic Prayer Book, which draws together translations of many familiar and indispensable prayers and devotions--the Stations of the Cross, the Rosary, the Scapular. For collections where there is a strong Catholic readership.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 672 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday Religion; 1 edition (March 14, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385492863
• ISBN-13: 978-0385492867
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #855,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars User-friendly, July 8, 2000

By 

E. W. McLaughlin "Presbytaoian" (Dayton, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime--A Manual for Prayer (v. 1) (Hardcover)

Finally a prayer book that is functional for those of us who don't have half an hour two or three times a day for structured prayer. One ribbon! So easy to use. Everything is there on the page (except the Lord's Prayer and the Gloria, which you probably know by heart). The canticles aren't there--but, then, I can get along without them--or insert them if I wish.

What I like is the ease of use. The basic structure for Morning, Midday, Vespers and Compline is: Call to Prayer; Request for Presence; The Greeting (each of these three is usually a sentence from the Psalms); The Refrain (from Psalms); A Reading (mostly from Scripture); The Refrain; The Psalm; The Refrain; The Gloria; The Lord's Prayer; The Prayer Appointed for the Week; The Concluding Prayer.

I usually choose to make up a chant for the Refrain and the Psalm of the Day.

I've been looking for a daily prayer book like this one: simplicity and brevity, yet with substance. I've been using Tickle's book for Morning, Midday and Vespers for more than a month now. I'm being fed. As a Presbyterian minister, I need to be fed so that I can feed others. I've already ordered the Winter edition.

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Prayer as the Rythym of Life, March 25, 2000

By 

K. K. Barre "Quot libros, quam breve tempus." (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime--A Manual for Prayer (v. 1) (Hardcover)

I have long been interested in the offices of the hours--those times of daily prayer long traditional in the historical church. In our hectic, modern world, it is too easy to forget our connection to the eternal and infinite. This first volume of "The Divine Hours" is a wonderful tool to help restore our connection to God. As a non-Roman Catholic (I am a Methodist minister), I am nevertheless both comforted and connected by the beautiful use of scripture and traditional prayer. The introductory material on the history and use of the hours is wonderful... I have even found myself inspired to chant many of the psalms! One drawback--the summer volume (Ordinary Time, in liturgical language) was printed first, and is not officially appropriate until June! I was intrigued enough to throw the calendar to the winds just this once, and started in immediately (I guess I will repeat this volume in the Summer), but I am eagerly anticipating the next two installments. "The Divine Hours" is wonderful addition to any spiritual library, and an incredible way to deepen and intensify your own spiritual life.

37 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, highly recommended, December 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime--A Manual for Prayer (v. 1) (Hardcover)

The hours, or daily prayers said at set times during the day in order to praise God and sanctify the day, has been a part of Jewish and Christian practice for thousands of years. I have tried to take up this practice in the past but have given it up as it usually requires several books, a dozen or so ribbon markers, and an intimate knowledge of the complexities of the liturgical calendar in order to do it. What should be a prayerful experience seemed to me to be a physical and mental juggling act that was tedious and wearying. What Phyllis Tickle has done is to use the calendar we all use, put all (or most-the repetitive night prayers are in one monthly section) of the prayers on one or two pages and put one ribbon (really all you need) in the binding. The prayers are available for each day for morning, evening, and night. If you wish, there are prayers for noon also. Having followed this volume for a period, I can say that my own personal experience is that this is a wonderful devotion which I intend to keep up. There is enough variety to hold your interest and it is simple and easy to follow. Those short one and two week prayerbooks quickly become old. Here is a different arrangement and selection for every day. I thought this was an excellent publishing idea. I am an individual who is struggling with issues of faith, belief, meaning, church, etc. I wanted some type of organized prayer that I could do in private as I grow/read/learn slowly at my own pace and this volume has been just what I needed at this point in my life. I need only open this book and spend a bit of time in prayer and throught. I have even tried chanting when alone and that has been rewarding. This book has helped me come closer to a God I am trying to learn about more. If you are looking for an easy way to do the Hours but need more variety than simple prayerbooks give, give this one a try. One final note:I am amused at the number of reviews here that pillory this volume because it does not use inclusive language. If this volume DID, in fact, do so, I know that I would be turned off. Short of rewriting every bit of literature authored before 1990, non-inclusive language must be accepted as part of the time and cultural restraints that form the context that all literature, sacred and profane, is written in. There was a "politically correct" Bible published a few years ago, which attempted to offend no one,including left-handers. It was a financial and critical failure and you will be lucky to find one at a bargain table these days. I am deeply suspicious of any political group (feminist, gay (-my own group), black, etc.) imposing its ideology by censoring and altering the words of authors who can no longer defend the unasked for editing of their texts. As far as being offended by the abundance of male pronouns used for God, only a simpleton cannot see past the metaphors. We know that "God" is gender neutral but the substitution of "goddess" cannot be as that is clearly feminine. One wonders how these feminists would deal with French where EVERYTHING has a gender and the language simply cannot be bent to fit in with ideology as English might be if enough violence is done to it.