Customer Reviews

Teach Us to Pray: Prayer in the Bible and the World

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

 

 

This book, coordinated and contributed to by Don Carson, is a treasury of studies on prayer from an evangelical/protestant Christian perspective.

The book is comprised of essays written by 20 individuals from around the world in collaboration. These are arranged topically in 4 major sections:
* Biblical Theology of Prayer - various articles studying how prayer is viewed and exercised in different parts of the Bible (e.g., one chapter is titled, "Prayer in the general epistles")* Prayer and Spirituality - comparison of how prayer is looked at in other major world religions, as compared to evangelical/protestant practice. This is respectful of other religions, while holding confidence in its (and my) own beliefs.
* Some Lessons in Prayer from the World-Wide Church - a look at Christian prayer practiced on 4 different continents. This - in conjunction with the choice of contributing authors - is very valuable; it breaks the assumption of most writers that the things they see in their life are what happen in the whole world.
* The Challenge to Pray.

This is not a light book that you should expect to lay in your hammock and casually read. Its pages are packed with thoughtful content, rather than relying on large fonts and wide margins to make the book appear valuable. To maximise what you get from this book, please take a couple things with you to the hammock when you're ready to read:
* Your Bible. The authors don't pontificate, but argue their points based on scripture (with better contextual faithfulness than I find in much evangelical literature too). The editor doesn't fatten the book further by copying quotes from the Bible, since the intended audience already has a copy of that source; you will want to have a copy handy, and to be ready to look up passages rather than speed-read through the book.
* A prayerful attitude. This is written thoughtfully, but it is intended not as a purely academic work but rather to encourage Christian believers to engage in Godly prayer. As such, read it prayerfully, so that God's indwelling spirit may speak to you through it.