As a young Christian, I thought there was one way to pray. I learned the ACTS acronym (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) and thought this was THE way. Only later did I discover that even within scripture, people prayed in widely different ways.
In Kneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History’s Best Teachers, Gary Neal Hansen[1] chooses ten saints and their recommended ways of praying to expose us to the breadth of ways God’s people have prayed. We have Benedictine liturgy, Luther’s teaching on praying the Lord’s prayer, the anonymous pilgrim’s Jesus prayer, Calvin’s use of the Psalms, the Ignatian prayer of the senses and more! I was most surprised with his inclusion of Agnes Sanford’s model of healing prayer, which he admits can be controversial. In each of the chapters, and in an appendix at the conclusion, he gives practical instruction for each prayer model with the encouragement to practice these for a period, recognizing that some will be helpful, and some may not connect. Yet he thinks all are helpful to some and some that may not be our “prayer language” now may serve us at a later time. [Read more…] about Book Review: Kneeling with Giants