Customer Reviews

The Path of Celtic Prayer: An Ancient Way to Everyday Joy

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This short book by Calvin Miller is not a technical study of Celtic theology, history, or even prayer, but rather a practical manual that intends to help people deepen their practice of prayer. It takes its general inspiration from Celtic prayer and is not an indepth study of the Celts. "In this book," writes Miller, "I hope to offer you some aspects of Celtic spiritual practices as a springboard that might enable your prayer life to reach new heights." After a short introductory chapter, Miller devotes one chapter each to six principles or types of prayer that he has gleaned from Celtic spirituality: Trinity Prayer; Scripture Prayer; Long, Wandering Prayer; Nature Prayer; Lorica Prayer (lorica is Latin for breastplate); and Confessional Prayer.

Miller tends to romanticize Celtic spirituality as a "faith of great vitality," and characterize as lackluster modern habits of discipleship. But whether the past was so great and the present so bad is a debatable generalization. Also, in proposing "a kind of prayer that can end our amputated feelings of separateness from God," Miller treads a thin line between offering yet one more "technique," as opposed to careful advice about a lifelong spiritual discipline. I nevertheless enjoyed his many references to and examples of Celtic prayer, and the exercises at the end of each chapter take the reader from mere theory to practice. Many people have lamented the ignorance on the part of contemporary believers for our spiritual forbears, and Miller's popular book aimed for a general readership is a good place to begin to connect with saints who have gone before us.

I do appreciate the practical level on which Dr. Miller has put this book together. His book avoids the numerous traps and myths that tend to accompany research on the issue of celtic spirituality. While not extensive on the subject, at 161 pages of text, the book provides a good foundation for prayer life of those desiring a deeper relationship with the Creator. He remarks to his readers that the "book is not a history nor a cultural examination of the Celts" but a guide for prayer (pg 8). The primary source material used and quoted is invaluable for anyone's research. It is a simple read that students of Celtic Christianity will refer to many times over.

I found this book to be one of the most helpful books on Christian spirituality that I have ever read. The author is an exceptional writer able to distill profound thought into few words. How Much did I like the book? We bought four more for members of our family.

The contemplative end of Christianity has always been Miller's interest. This book is a continuation of that interest. However, contemplative Christianity has been growing with many Christians seeking a deeper walk with God than can be found in the adrenaline packed style of many American churches.

Miller says this book is not "a history or cultural examination of the Celts." However, there is much in the book that covers Celtic culture as it relates to the practice of religion. Many ancient and scholarly sources are also quoted.

The book is not a prayer book but is an explanation of Miller's interpretation of how the Celts prayed. He attempts to introduce six, supposedly Celtic prayer ideas in this book. "Trinity Prayer" (Praying to Father/Creator, Son/Redeemer, and Holy Spirit/Sanctifier in the first chapter). Scripture prayer, wandering prayer, nature prayer, lorica prayer, confessional prayer are the rest of the chapters.

Some may struggle with the prayer to angels (page 116), the not necessarily Christian elements (Carmina Gadelica), and the overtly Catholic elements. This had the feeling of coming close to, if not crossing the line of syncretism. One question I had was how does "Trinity prayer" fit in with how Jesus taught prayer in Matthew 5:6 -- 9 (praying to the Father)?

Still, for the thoughtful and discerning reader, this may give you something to consider.

I've spent several weeks reading and ruminating on this book, The Path of Celtic Prayer. Overall, I really enjoyed it, but there was something about the style of writing or flow of the book that seemed to "stutter" at times... more about that later.

Fundamentally, the book is about prayer as stated in the title; however, in the larger sense the book describes a people (the Celts) whose very existence was expressed in their love of God and reflected in a lifestyle of prayer. The imagery portrayed by Miller as he writes about these ancient worshipers is heavily romanticized, but I did not find that as something of a fault... in fact, I consider it fitting for anyone in deep relationship with the Creator God. Awe, wonder, praise, splendor, romance, and more are part of the intimacy of prayer and relationship with God, so Miller's representation seemed apropos.

The author believes the path of (Celtic) prayer exists in six forms. He goes on to present the paths through examples, instruction, and exercises for the reader. The six paths of prayer, or forms of prayer, are as follows: Trinity Prayer--The Art of Loving God; Scripture Prayer--Praying the Bible Back to Its Author; Long, Wandering Prayer--Seeing Life as a Single, Unending Prayer; Nature Prayer--Poetry and Praise in Ordinary Life; Lorica Prayer--Asking God for Protection; Confessional Prayer--Living in Agreement with God.

I enjoyed the historical references and the education I received about the ancient Celtic world. The poetry and the prayers that Miller shares with his reader are beautiful, robust, and inspiring. Many times as I was reading, I was captured in the prayer...my imaginations swept up in the words, my heart and my mind transported to the altar and throne of Grace.

It is difficult for me to land on a particular form of prayer that I enjoyed or liked the most. I suppose I might have connected in a more personal way with the chapter on Wandering Prayer as it seemed to resonate with the overall landscape of my life, but there were aspects of each form that struck a chord deep within me as well.

I mentioned there was a "stutter" in the flow of the book in my opening comments. This is more likely something personal, but it seemed to me the context of a thought or teaching would be moving along and I would be deeply engrossed in what I was reading and learning, then seemingly all of the sudden that would stop; a prayer or excerpt of poetry or a sidebar bio about a particular hero of the Celts would be thrown in to interrupt the flow. Other readers may not experience this, but it seemed to happen on more than one occasion during my reading. Consequently, I thought the flow of the book was somewhat "stuttered." Aside from this minor inconvenience, I enjoyed the book greatly and will probably refer to it again and again. As I mentioned, there were several pieces in it that really carried me away in thoughtful, and imaginative, worship. That's a great place to be.

Thought provoking on how we pray and how only one in the Trinity is the focus of our prayers. Also makes one think about how we have compartmentalized our faith from even the mundane and everyday aspects of our lives when in fact the act of praying continuously would certainly enrich it.

The Celtic Christian phenomena might be ebbing these days, but that doesn't take away from the fascinating insights they offer in our contemporary spiritual pursuits. Miller has done us all a favor by researching this field and providing some new perspectives on prayer. Now I just need to actually practice them!