In Silence. Why We Pray

Read an Excerpt

Introduction, Part 1
Faith, I suggested in The Hidden Jesus, is primarily an attitude about reality - a refusal to admit that life has no meaning and that everything is doomed to extinction; faith then involves a willingness to wonder, to ask questions rather than simply

Introduction, Part 2
As regards the criticism that prayer is an isolating and self-absorbed exercise, are we in fact merely deluding ourselves and avoiding life's demands when we pray?

From the author of The Hidden Jesus - an eloquent, wide-ranging exploration of humanity's intimate dialogue with the divine.

The literature of prayer has an old and rich tradition, but Donald Spoto's extraordinary new work of scholarship and devotion may be the first book to explore not only what prayer says about God but what it reveals about us and the universal experiences that have moved us to call on God throughout the ages.

Drawing on the words of religious thinkers of both East and West, from the author of Psalms to Rumi and from Teresa of Ávila to Chögyam Trungpa, In Silence explores the nature, quality, history, and effects of prayer: as petition, as forgiveness, as cry of suffering, as abandonment, as serenity, as loving, as silence.

Erudite, beautifully written, and filled with wonder, this is a ringing celebration of our most precious habit of being.

Donald Spoto, author of The Hidden Jesus, taught theology, Christian mysticism, and biblical literature at the university level for twenty years. His other eighteen books include internationally bestselling biographies of Alfred Hitchcock, Laurence Olivier, Tennessee Williams, and Ingrid Bergman..

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