Prayer

Table Of Contents

Prayer Preface to the 2001 Edition
Chapter 1: What Prayer Is Not
Prayer is not saying prayers
Prayer is not withdrawal from one’s culture
Prayer is not acquiescence to a culture
Prayer is not causing God to change by our petitions
Prayer is not talking to God
Prayer is not liturgy
Prayer is not an exceptional experience
Chapter 2: Life and Its Mysteries: The Stuff of Prayer
Is “life” too vague?
Mystery versus problem
Mysteries in our lives
Chapter 3: Prayer: A Radical Response to Life
Prayer as response
Israelite prayer as response to life
Jesus’ prayer as response to life
Prayer as response to life, not God
Prayer as response to life, not culture
Prayer as a radical response
Chapter 4: Prayer as Radical Psychologically: Mysticism (Becoming Rooted)
Prayer, the process of responding to life
Mysticism, a matrix for prayer
Chapter 5: Prayer as Radical Socially: Prophecy (Uprooting)
The socially radical as prophecy
Social prayer as a wrestling with the enemies of life
Justice, the prophet’s goal
Signs of the true prophet
Chapter 6: Developing Our Capacities for Mysticism and Prophecy
Experience of life
Developing our capacities for mysticism
Developing our capacities for prophecy
The artist as a spiritual guru
Music and spirituality
Postscript: A Fresh Look at the Trinity