Primary Speech: A Psychology of Prayer [Paperback]

Ann Ulanov (Author), Barry Ulanov (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1983

Prayer is our basic expression of religious belief. It is our personal and most private act of devotion. Words cannot do justice to the feelings, wishes, terrors, pains, or pleasures that we exchange with God. This book sets out to define prayer as both a means of drawing nearer to God everyday and as a coping tool that people can use in order to achieve harmony, balance, and satisfaction in their in their lives.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ann Belford Ulanov is Christiane Brooks Johnson Memorial Professor of Psychiatry and Religion at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. A Jungian analyst in private practice, she is also the author or coauthor of numerous books, including The Wizards' Gate, Cinderella and her Sisters, The Wisdom of the Psyche, Picturing God, and The Feminine in Jungian Psychology and Christian Theology.

Barry Ulanov served as McIntosh Professor of English and Chairman of the Program in the Arts at Barnard College in New York City. He coauthored Religion and the Unconscious and Primary Speech: A Psychology of Prayer with his wife, Ann Belford Ulanov.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press (January 1, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804211345
• ISBN-13: 978-0804211345
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #460,921 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars [e-mail], March 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Primary Speech: A Psychology of Prayer (Paperback)

Barry and Anna Ullanov's Primary Speech is a worthy addition to our understanding and much needed concrete experiences of prayer. It is a book about prayer but quickly brings the reader to identify with the struggle that prayer sometimes is. Once people begin to pray prayer quickly goes on the fast track, so to speak, of the known and unknown within us. Psychologically and spiritually speaking prayer does dwell in "primary speech." I was encouraged by this book because it confirmed and enlightened my own experience of prayer at a time when prayer is difficult and bewildering.

Primary Speech brings the reader and practitioner in prayer to some of the most essential elements of the prayer journey: accepting oneself, the courage to go deeper in prayer, not losing hope and becoming competent in exploring the unknown. The book does not get bogged down in jargon but goes directly to why prayer is natural to us and psychologically essential.

Perhaps we read a book when we most need it, never the less, this book speaks to the heart of the matter of prayer when you are most ready to listen.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book on prayer, December 24, 2005

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Angel Book Reader "book reviewer" (Morgantown, WV) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Primary Speech: A Psychology of Prayer (Paperback)

The authors account for the fundamental nature of prayer in human lives. According to them, prayer is like a primary speech. "In prayer we say who in fact we are - not who we should be, nor who we wish we were, but who we are." They raised six important aspects of human lives and they invite us to bring them to prayer. These are desire, projection, fantasy, fear, aggression and sexuality.

They acknowledge the importance of desire in prayer and say it is the motivating factor for prayer. Projection has been used in various forms throughout the history of philosophy and religion to discredit religion. Feuerbach was the first to use the terminology in this sense. Both Freud and Marx adapted it and applied it to reflect their own positions. Their underlining thesis is that we project to a god our own powers. The authors beautifully took this same terminology and applied it in a very positive and enriching way. They see projection as one of the ways we can reach out to God. They wrote, "In prayer we must begin where we are, with the images of the divine that we project and find ourselves projecting onto the unknown."

The authors opine that silence is one of the first fears that come in prayer. Their description of the fear of silence in prayer sounds like John and Teresa's description of the dark night of the soul. Rather than run away from prayer because of the fears or prayer taking us away from our fears, the authors say that prayer takes us into the center of these fears and help us to live through them.

One of the things people have the tendency to keep very secret is their sexuality. Sometimes people want to hide it from God, yet, it is at the very center of our lives. The authors invite us to contemplate our sexuality. They say, "our contemplative concentration must include our sexuality just as our sexuality must include our contemplative life."
This is definitely the best book on prayer I have read in recent times. The authors made appropriate use of the tools of psychology to help us pray without reducing prayer to psychology. It is practical, clear and very inviting. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in praying better. It is a must have for ministers, religious counselors and spiritual directors.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a good one!, July 8, 2006

By 

S. Loretta - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Primary Speech: A Psychology of Prayer (Paperback)

Wonderfully articulated book on prayer from the perspective of prayer as a language...in fact, the primary language. The authors are able to include the psychology of prayer sacrificing neither the mysticism nor the practical. Reading this text both tantalizes and encourages the reader to open to new vistas in his or her own life of prayer.