Customer Reviews

Prayer for Beginners

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a wonderful guide for anyone who wants to begin praying in a more meaningful way, but doesn't know how to begin. It has changed my prayer life immeasurably... and I can feel my every day life being transformed as well.

I spent years thinking that I was doing something wrong when I prayed. I never felt any kind of internal "high," which I assumed was a sign that I was truly praying. I always felt rather like a fraud when I prayed, because I was sure I was doing something wrong.

This book helped me in so many ways. It dispelled the myth that there is some kind of special "feeling" you get when you pray. There is a list of ten reasons to pray that really opened my eyes up to why this is so necessary... the first one is that "only prayer can change the world," and that is so powerful all by itself. It doesn't tout a method of prayer, but gives strategies to begin and keep praying. It talks about what faith really means: "God said it, and I believe it, and that's that."

Most helpfully, it opened my eyes to the value and peace of praying in "words." Reciting the Lord's Prayer or prayerfully reading the Psalms isn't taking the "easy way out," as I always assumed. I always had the impression that "real" prayer is some kind of wordless conversation with God, and that only children need words to recite. Peter assures the reader that "mental prayer" is more difficult, and it comes naturally for very few people. The rest of us can be assured that we are not cheating by using the words of others to open ourselves to God.

I am Catholic, and this book is geared toward Catholics. However, I would recommend it for any Christians struggling with getting started.

This brief introduction to prayer contained some very helpful kernals of truth for me, e.g. the idea of the presence of God - taken from Brother Lawrence. I find that Dr. Kreeft writes in a very clear and accessible way, while, at the same time, he doesn't dilute the essence of what he wants to say. I found this book had a profound impact on the way I think about prayer, and how I pray. And, as he points out (i.e., from thought to behavior to habit to character) this has lead to a change (I hope) in how I live my life. Not bad for a short (104 pages) little book! The other book by the same author was Back To Virtue, which was excellent, also.

Kreeft is straight-forward and direct. His thinking and writing are clear. This is book is immensely practical. It is small enough to be completed in a short time and deep enough to warrant re-reading whenever the beginning pray-er needs a boost.

Kreeft's point is that we must begin to pray. Kreeft first motivates. Then he offers an intelligent summary of the major forms of prayer and the progression from rote to contemplative prayer.

Kreeft speaks directly to the reader - to me - when he asks if I really want to pray, or if, by reading a book on prayer, I have deluded myself into thinking that I am doing it. What a challenge! What clarity of purpose!

I think Peter Kreeft is a great thinker and writer. But be forewarned. If you are a person looking to begin a prayer life or you are a person looking to bring more meaning to your prayer life, I WOULD NOT suggest this book. At the beginning the book reaches out and grabs you with its potential. But as time goes by may become mired in lots of philosophical "if then" statements.

My thinking is that most people buying this book want some help. They are looking for a "how to" book and this is not that book. A better book might be Prayer Primer by Fr. Thomas Dubay.

I'm sure there are some that will get much out of this, but if you are a beginner to both prayer and a Christian life, you will find this book a problem.

That is the message of Peter Kreeft in this small book with short chapters. In my opinion, the most striking chapter is on the Jesus Prayer as the "shortest, simplest, and most powerful prayer in the world" (p. 53). Also striking is Kreeft's analysis of the suggestion that prayer is a waste of time by pointing out that through prayer God will instead multiply our time (p. 124). As usual with Kreeft, the book is full of gems of insight that will strike readers in different personal circumstances with varying levels of significance. That is as it should be. There is something in this book for just about everyone.

This book is written in a simple and straightforward way yet it also contains much insight . It is for anyone who wants a better understanding of how to pray and what prayer means to a christian. The book starts off with why we should pray then goes into the effects of prayer and it's importance . Then we learn different methods of prayer and the role of faith in our prayer life. There is an ancronym used in the book to help us remember what to say in prayer. The acronym is RAPT, which stands for: Repentance,Adoration, Petition, and Thanksgiving. The book also talks about obstacles to prayer, such as sin and distractions.The last couple of chapters deal with suffering and Grace. This is another practical and helpful book by peter kreeft.

A more accurate title for this book would have been "Why Pray?", not "Prayer For Beginners". It starts out promisingly, but then, as another reviewer commented, it is more about why to pray rather than offering instruction on how to pray. I was hoping for practical advice, but found an apologia instead.

For example: "We are already wholly his by right, but because of sin we are not yet wholly his in fact because we do not wholly will what we are by right. We are thus not wholly what we are: we are not in fact what we are by right."

Get Kreeft's other prayer book instead, "Prayer: The Great Conversation". That one contains a number of practical suggestions.

Awe inspiring in simple prose and stating simple facts. The book gives a rational explanation of why we must suffer. The message is simple but difficult-love God above all else as Mary loved and obeyed God. Jesus Christ was and is our living example. The book brillantly explains the seeming contradiction of being humble and ambitious. One of the most important books I have ever read. A powerful book.

I've been a Christian for quite a few years now and found this book very helpful. Whether you're a mature Christian or a new one, I think your prayer life will benefit from this wonderful little book.

Although this book is geared towards Catholics, you certainly don't have to be a Catholic to benefit from it. I myself am a Protestant and still benefited a great deal from this book.

Since I've been a Christian for awhile, I found that the strength of this book was not so much in giving me new information as in reminding me of what I always knew. There was a lot of information that I hadn't really thought of though.

This book is particularly helpful for those who don't even know how to begin to pray. Even if you're not a new believer though, I recommend this book as a very good basic "prayer manual"; it is good for old believers who find themselves struggling or at a "dry spell" in their prayer life or spiritual walk with God. This book was definitely worth the time and money and I am glad I read it.

`Prayer for Beginners' is a small booklet on Christian prayer by Peter Kreeft. For those not familiar with the author Kreeft is a long-time Boston College professor, a well known Catholic apologist and a prodigious writer with numerous books on various theological and philosophical subjects.

While I appreciate Kreeft as a writer and share many of his philosophical and theological views I was somewhat disappointment with this book. First, while I did not approach the text with any firm expectations, I was anticipating more of a `how to' book focused on practical guidance. And, while Kreeft does offer some suggestions in the area of prayer the book is more as an argument for the importance of prayer rather than guidance on how to pray. Second, the book's premise of a beginner helping other beginners with prayer seems awkward on a couple of levels. At a surface level it just seems odd. Imagine wanting to learn how to cook, play piano, speak French or perform brain surgery; where would you go for guidance? It seems that you would go to someone who at least professed to be knowledgeable with regard to the subject matter - Kreeft professes to be a beginner with regard to prayer. This is not to say that all experts are good teachers, or that novices necessarily lack insight, but, rather, that beyond a certain point it seems apparent that effective guidance requires a skilled guide. Finally, even if one accepts the premise of beginners guiding beginners the approach is a not a good fit for Kreeft. Despite some token hand waving to the contrary, it is clear that Kreeft views himself as an expert and his attempts at humility come off as disingenuous. Kreeft has a long list of strengths, humility, however is not at the top of that list. Like many intellectuals Kreeft `just' knows that he is right - and while he often is correct - his self-assurance is a poorly suited to play the role of the humble fellow sojourner.

I feel a little uncomfortable criticizing Kreeft. He is in an elite group of contemporary Catholic apologists and though his style sometimes strikes me and condescending I have always been impressed by his courage to speak what he believes to be the truth even when it is unpopular. While this is by no means a terrible little book I would not recommend it to readers seeking practical assistance with prayer. Such advice seems more the purview of pastors than philosophers. For folks who enjoy Kreeft he has a range of audio lectures available on the internet (just google Kreeft mp3).