Living Prayer [Paperback]

Robert Benson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 1999

Living Prayer is the story of Robert Benson's quest across ecumenical and denominational lines in search of windows into the mystery of prayer. Weaving a narrative about his experiences while seeking a prayerful life, he demonstrates how prayer can enter the fabric of one's existence so that life itself becomes prayer. In the manner of Madeleine L'Engle and Kathleen Norris, Benson makes the ordinary events of life seem mystical and the mystical seem ordinary. He illustrates the full power of prayer, illuminates the reasons we are drawn to pray, and bears witness to the grace of leading a life attuned to the voice of God.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Benson (Between the Dreaming and the Coming True) narrates the story of his quest across ecumenical and denominational lines in search of windows into the mystery of prayer. He illustrates the full power of prayer, illuminates the reasons we are drawn to pray and bears witness to the grace of leading a life attuned to the voice of God. Throughout his story, Benson describes the life of prayer as a dance. He urges us to discover the rhythms of life that can be found in the Ancient Dance of the Ancient Days: the liturgy; the Eucharist; the calendar and the mass; the prayers of confession, intercession, recollection and contemplation; the habits of reading and retreat and working with our hands; the practices of hospitality and forgiveness and being with the poor. Benson also contends that place is one of the steps in the Ancient Dance. Prayer has been most meaningful to him in places that have been set aside for God to inhabit, places that have been marked for worship and prayer and places to which those who are seeking God have been called forth to hope and rest and listen. Benson discovers a way of prayer that is both old and new, and he shows that living prayer is the beginning of a journey that starts with learning to listen. Benson's beautifully measured prose lures readers into the prayer as a dynamic dance of life.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In the same vein as Kathleen Norris, Benson (Between the Dreaming and the Coming True, HarperSanFrancisco: HarperCollins, 1996) reflects on his life within the framework of liturgical prayer, grounded in a sense of place, the cyclical expanse of time, and the renewal of solitude and human fellowship. He asks profound questions and buoys his writing with a self-deprecating sense of humor and immense trust in God. As Kathleen Norris's popularity attests, this uplifting book should speak to a growing audience of readers who are seeking contemplative prayer and a return to traditional liturgy as a way of life.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher; 1st Trade Paperback ed edition (August 2, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874779677
• ISBN-13: 978-0874779677
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #501,100 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I come from a family of writers and publishers and other folks who spent much of their lives working with and around writers and musicians and producers and artists. One of my grandfathers was a poet and a publisher and my father was a writer and a speaker. My grandmother loved poetry and novels and used to invite me to her house to play Scrabble. Words and sentences and stories have mattered most to me for most all my life
I grew up in a small bedroom community just outside Nashville, Tennessee. I left once to study English literature in California and again for a couple of years and a couple of cold winters to write advertising in Chicago, but all in all, Tennessee is home to me. While I was in Chicago I published my first book, Private Visions in Public Places, a coffee table book with someone else's photographs of the city. I got off the escalator one day in Water Tower Place and saw a bookstore window with a big display of the book. I have never recovered.
In between California and Chicago, I spent almost ten years heading up the marketing team for The Benson Company in Nashville, the major religious music firm that bore the family name. There followed several years as a freelance writer and editor, and two years on the staff of Upper Room Books. I graduated from The Academy for Spiritual Formation, a two-year program of study and prayer in community with some sixty people from across the South and also became a member of The Friends of Silence & of the Poor, an international prayer community.
Somewhere in there, I began to find my own voice. I had always written ' journals, bad adolescent poetry, advertising, even ghostwriting a couple of books. I even made a living at it. One day I discovered that I could no longer write for hire, because I could not get my own voice out of my head and it was time to begin to write my own stories.
I write two kinds of books about one thing ' paying attention.
I write about paying attention for the things that can point us to the Sacred in our lives. About the longings that we have for home and community and a sense of belonging in our lives. About practice and ritual and work and contemplation and the way that such things can be constant reminders of who we are and who we are to become.
One kind of book that I writes is overtly religious. They are books that are written for readers who are interested in discussing such things in the traditional language that the Church uses ' the language of spirituality and prayer and liturgy, the language of religion.
The second kind of book is less overtly religious. They are written to try and discover the holy, if you will, that is to be found in the ordinary. They are written about more general subjects, everything from baseball to gardening to travel
So now there is a body of work that has been published to favorable reviews from The New York Times, USA Today, and other major newspapers, critical acclaim from the publishing community as evidenced by the reviews in Publishers' Weekly, BookPage, and other reviewers, and notable comments from other writers in the field of spirituality. All of which is pretty surprising to me.
I have somehow managed to stumble into living almost exactly the kind of life to which I have been drawn since I was old enough to wonder about what I wanted to be when I grew up.
I live in Nashville still where I write every day in a small studio in our back garden, see my children and their friends every time I get a chance, and take seriously the call to participate in the prayer that sanctifies the day and the work of the world. I am married to the literary agent Sara Fortenberry, for whom I am gratefully yard man, travel companion and head librarian. And I get to say yes a few times a year to opportunities to lead seminars and retreats on prayer, silence, writing, and spirituality, subjects I have led dozens of retreats on around the country in recent years.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'll Never Be the Same, April 29, 2000

By 

Eva Marie Everson (Casselberry, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living Prayer (Paperback)

I had the privelege of meeting Mr. Benson at CBA (Christian Booksellers Association) in July, 1999. After a half-hour chat with him, I knew this humble, humble man could only write what my heart needed to hear! And was I right! This is the BEST book I've ever read on prayer life. I have bought a copy for everyone I know and some people I don't know! When I speak to audiences on prayer, this is the number one book I suggest! My advice to all reading this: If you buy only one book on prayer, make this one it!

Favorite Line: We must somehow stop offering ourselves in prayer and begin offering ourselves as prayer.

Amen!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book on Prayer Ever!, June 25, 2001

By 

Jeremy M. Hoover (St. Joseph, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living Prayer (Paperback)

This is Benson's finest offering. The writing is great; the thematic arrangement is outstanding. I read this book as I was beginning to discover the contemplative lifestyle, and this book helped me to understand the rhythms of prayer and of the church year. This is not a how-to manual: the chapters are descriptive of Benson's experience and of what he has learned in the art of prayer. Therein lies the power of the book: Because Benson does not tell us what to do, he has left us the freedom to join in the "Dance" in whatever way we can. He runs the gamut in prayer experience. From simple prayer, to journaling, to praying the hours, to keeping a journal, there is something in here for everyone who is on a spiritual journey to/with the Christian God, regardless of what stage they are at. This book and Benson's first, _Between the Dreaming and the Coming True_, are the ONLY books on the spiritual life that I recommend to people. They are that good! You cannot go wrong with this book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A pause for prayer, April 11, 2000

By 

Cocktail Mom (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living Prayer (Paperback)

Reading this book, I felt I knew the author and would like to meet him in person. I savored his observations on the life and rhythms of prayer. Some have described prayer as an "adventure" -- Robert's adventure is like a walk under the trees on an autumn day -- vivid, subtle, and steeped in quiet beauty.