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This volume is a first attempt to investigate the impact of urban space on prayers and related religious thought and belief in ancient religions from the first to the sixth century CE. Taking its lead from the spatial turn in scholarship, methodologically it is an attempt to replace the hitherto customary focus on the forms and semantics of prayer with an urban-spatial model. This model understands prayers as performances that are embedded and embodied in urban space as well as texts producing and inspired by imaginations of space. To allow for a broader comparison, this volume covers prayers and spaces of various religions all over the ancient Mediterranean, from Roman and North African polytheisms through early Christianity to Byzantine Christianity and early Islam.

This ground-breaking book contains contributions from 12 different religious traditions: Hinduism, African Traditional Religion, Judaism, Jainism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Shintoism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Unitarianism and Bahá'í. Interfaith worship and prayer can be complex, but this book demonstrates that in a world of many cultures and religions, there is an urgent need for religions to come together with trust and communication, especially when there is a crisis. Full of insights and examples of practice, the book demonstrates how religions can be a powerful means of unity and compassion. The book opposes the'clash of civilisations'model as a way of interpreting the world and promotes peace, hope, and the possibility of cooperation. Religious believers can be sincere and committed to their own faith, while recognising the need to stand firmly together with members of other religious traditions.

The earliest strands of the Jesus tradition, including the one attested by the Sayings Gospel Q, show a keen interest in prayer. In this volume, specialists in Hebrew Bible, early and rabbinic Judaism, and early Christianity contribute essays on a broad range of topics relevant to the Q materials on prayer. Several contributors situate Q in its historical and religious context by relating it to other early Jewish texts and traditions concerning prayer. Others analyse Jesus'instructions on prayer in Q with respect to specific exegetical and interpretive questions, or track the reception of Q's materials on prayer in Matthew and Luke.

D.W. Whittle was a evangelist and Bible teacher in the late 19th century. Whittle was also well known for helping the evangelical campaigns of Dwight Lyman Moody. Whittle was also a well-respected writer of books for Christians. The Wonders of Prayer is an excellent and comprehensive book on the importance of prayer for Christians in their daily lives.

The seventeenth-century French philosopher Nicolas Malebranche thought that philosophy could learn a valuable lesson from prayer, which teaches us how to attend, wait, and be open for what might happen next. Death Be Not Proud explores the precedents of Malebranche's advice by reading John Donne's poetic prayers in the context of what David Marno calls the “art of holy attention.” If, in Malebranche's view, attention is a hidden bond between religion and philosophy, devotional poetry is the area where this bond becomes visible. Marno shows that in works like “Death be not proud,” Donne's most triumphant poem about the resurrection, the goal is to allow the poem's speaker to experience a given doctrine as his own thought, as an idea occurring to him. But while the thought must feel like an unexpected event for the speaker, the poem itself is a careful preparation for it. And the key to this preparation is attention, the only state in which the speaker can perceive the doctrine as a cognitive gift. Along the way, Marno illuminates why attention is required in Christian devotion in the first place and uncovers a tradition of battling distraction that spans from ascetic thinkers and Church Fathers to Catholic spiritual exercises and Protestant prayer manuals.

Prayer is a central aspect of religion. Even amongst those who have abandoned organized religion levels of prayer remain high. Yet the most basic questions remain unaddressed: What exactly is prayer? How does it vary? Why do people pray and in what situations and settings? Does prayer imply a god, and if so, what sort? A Sociology of Prayer addresses these fundamental questions and opens up important new debates. Drawing from religion, sociology of religion, anthropology, and historical perspectives, the contributors focus on prayer as a social as well as a personal matter and situate prayer in the conditions of complex late modern societies worldwide. Presenting fresh empirical data in relation to original theorising, the volume also examines the material aspects of prayer, including the objects, bodies, symbols, and spaces with which it may be integrally connected.

This unique phrase-by-phrase exposition reads the Lord's Prayer as Jesus'description of God. Our heavenly Father is the perfect parent beyond our dreams who loves, provides, forgives, and ultimately protects. Finding our parent, we discover who we really are and enter a kingdom without boundaries. The Prayer of Jesus is not a somber duty; it is the essence of the gospel's happy news.'If laughter is forbidden in heaven,'said Martin Luther,'I don't want to go there.'

Herein is a universal prayer for all who are interested to unite in rejoicing in the Holy Lord's eternal greatness along with inspiring images of the infinite cosmos of his world.

According to the Bible, the God of Christianity has a reputation for answering prayer. However, many Christians have been sometimes severely tempted to think they have been sold short as they have found themselves in some crisis and have cried out to God in all sincerity, and found that he has been'out.'From years of pastoral experience in addressing crises, and after having to face crises in his own experience, Roger Abbott attempts to help Christians who are struggling with what seem to be very real instances of God not answering their heartfelt prayers. There are many books about prayer, but there are not many that attempt to face the huge struggles with prayer that pray-ers can face. This book, while refusing to shirk those struggles and the debilitating emotional impact they can have, also attempts to navigate those emotional struggles with the use of a practical theology. Some Christians think, other Christians pray. Hello? Is Anyone There? combines a passion for thoughtful theology and a passion for prayer, out of a passion for a relationship with God in Christ.

If you're easily distracted when praying, you're not alone. In fact, if you struggle to pray in the first place, that's not unusual either. Tim Chester tells us how we can be great pray-ers. And he admits that that's a really bold claim.'The secret of great praying has nothing to do with human effort or skill,'he explains.'Lots of people would like to think that it does because they want to make prayer an achievement.'But the secret of great praying is... Knowing three things about God: +That God the Father loves to hear us pray +That God the Son makes every prayer pleasing to God +That God the Holy Spirit helps us as we pray Tim looks at: why prayer is easy (how we pray), why prayer is difficult (why we pray) and the arguments and priorities of prayer (what we pray). Prayer is a child asking her father for help. And that's not beyond any one of us.

This source of strength and solace for millions of Christian clergy and laypeople throughout the world can be a companion for your own spiritual journey.For centuries, Christians of different traditions and seekers from various backgrounds have found strength for their spiritual journey in the Book of Common Prayer (BCP). First composed in 1549 by Thomas Cranmer, Henry VIII's Archbishop of Canterbury, the BCP, alongside Shakespeare's works and the King James Bible, helped shape the English language. Today almost eighty million Anglican Christians throughout the world use the BCP in public worship, and countless people—Anglican and otherwise—use it in their private devotional life.In this unique presentation of selections—organized by themes such as'Blessings in Times of Joy and Pain,''Called to Serve'and “Praise and Petition”—with facing-page commentary, C. K. Robertson offers fascinating insights into the history and heritage of the BCP. He also makes available the riches of this spiritual treasure chest for all who are interested in deepening their life of prayer, building stronger relationships and making a difference in the world.

'Answers to Prayer From George Müller's Narratives'is a piece of religious text written by Christian evanglist George Müller.

Maybe you're praying and you don't even know it.In this unique and encouraging guide to prayer, Kent Ira Groff, a longtime retreat leader and inspiring writer-poet, explores how to engage in spirituality that blesses your soul—and the world. Whether you're advanced or just starting on your spiritual path, this practical prayer path breaker will lure you in with its novel combination of touching, real-life stories, pithy thoughts and inspiring prayer practices.For those turned off by shopworn religious language, it offers innovative ways to pray in four metaphorical movements that parallel both Native American traditions and Ignatian spirituality:East—Morning / Prayer as Awareness Waking up to reality—openingSouth—Noon / Prayer as Empowerment Embracing your dreams and possibilities—expandingWest—Afternoon / Prayer as Relinquishment Letting go of attachments—emptyingNorth—Night / Prayer as Paradox Uniting the opposites of life—integratingPrayer practices for each of the four'movements'provide for personal and group enrichment at home and work, in formal programs and informal friendships. They interweave the author's own experience to say: “This is honest to God spirituality and I'm seeing myself.”

What would a comparative study of prayer look like? If the human impulse is to survive by thinking and acting religiously, Reinhart says religion is born on the day prayer first finds breath. He discusses prayer as a discourse since that first day that is speech out of brokenness or suffering is expressed in the hope of something more. Through his engagement with theorists of language and memory (Habermas, Derrida, Metz, Ricoeur, and others), Reinhart develops a framework that sustains an innovative approach to apocalyptical thought that also lays the foundation for a new field: the comparative study of prayer.

Der Band ist den zwei Grundformen religiöser Kommunikation in der Antike gewidmet - zum einen dem Gebet, verstanden als an Gott oder die Götter gerichtete menschliche Bitte und Dank, Klage und Lob, zum anderen dem Orakel, verstanden als menschlich vermittelte und auf die Zukunft hin gedeutete Rede einer Gottheit. Diese Grundformen werden aus ägyptologischer, altorientalistischer, bibelwissenschaftlicher und gräzistischer Sicht betrachtet. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf dem Hellenismus als einer Epoche der intensiven kulturellen Begegnung von Orient und Okzident und der damit verbundenen geistes- und literaturgeschichtlichen Veränderungen, die sich auch und gerade im Bereich der Religionen und ihrer Sprachformen niedergeschlagen haben. So bieten die hier versammelten Beiträge eine Übersicht über Formen und Strukturen von Orakeln und Gebeten im hellenistischen Ägypten, Vorderasien, Israel und Griechenland, zum anderen exemplarische Interpretationen ausgewählter Quellentexte. Mit Beiträgen von: Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Michael Erler, Anselm C. Hagedorn, Hermut Löhr, Thomas Paulsen, Joachim F. Quack, Karin Stella Schmidt, Martin Stadler, Andreas Wagner, Beat Weber, Markus Witte

How is prayer possible? How does prayer work? Why is it necessary to ask for God's gifts? Intercessory Prayer attempts to provide answers to questions about the nature of intercessory prayer. Critically examining biblical teaching and modern theological and philosophical thinking, this book shows how intercessory prayer may be seen as one of the means by which God enlists the freely-given cooperation of human persons in the realisation of the divine purpose. Clements-Jewery adopts a process view of the universe to show how intercession both makes certain possibilities greater and strengthens the likelihood of response, so that people who pray may have every confidence that their prayers will make a difference to the world through the God who both influences and is influenced by the creation.

Marcel Mauss (1872-1950) never completed his Doctoral thesis on prayer. Yet his scarcely mentioned introduction (Books I and II) of 176 pages and privately printed in 1909, can be seen as some of his most important work. His argument that much of prayer is a social act will be of great interest to anthropologists, sociologists and theologians. Here, the first English translation to be published, is preceded by a general introduction by W.S.F.Pickering and finally a specific commentary on Mauss's use of ethnographic material.

This work explores how and why people pray. Contributors demonstrate from their experiences the positive power of prayer and its impact on the individual. Topics such as praying alone, praying in time of trouble, and praying and fellowship offer suggestions for achieving a consistent prayer life.