Wednesday, June 9, 2010

A Conversation: Into the Silent Land


Some weeks ago, Michelle of Quantum Theology and I discovered that we had both been reading the same book, Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation by Martin Laird, O.S.A.  It wasn't too long before we decided to try out a series of guest posts about our reading at one another's blogs.

Michelle and I "met" through some combination, now blurred in memory (mine at least) of our mutual RevGals participation, experiences of family loss, and love for Ignatian spirituality.  I'm not sure exactly how this will turn out, but I hope you'll all enjoy the effort.  Michelle is a Catholic who's also involved in Augustinian community life (which I'm hoping she'll explain), a chemistry professor who writes a column on prayer for her local Catholic paper, and a wife and mom of teenage boys who teaches contemplative classroom practice.

We're also hoping that our author, a professor of religious studies and philosophy at Villanova University, will put in an appearance.  What fun! ~ to explore a writer's work through conversation with a good friend, and then to hear his response to ours!

Welcome, Michelle!

P.S. Jan over at Yearning for God is also reading and blogging about this book!




5 comments:

  1. Greatly looking forward to this!

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  2. I'm going to be teaching centering prayer in a couple of weeks. I've order it, hoping it might be helpful. Looking forward to reading it.

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  3. I like us both reading it at the same time!

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  4. Marvelous idea!! I love how women bring each other into circles, and how the circles are always expanding!

    Even in our "own" world there is always room for more.

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  5. Its not bad, but I preferred the book: "Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening" by Cynthia Bourgeault on apophatic experiences of prayer. Her book naturally is about 'Centering Prayer' method, but its good for its practical analysis and robust critique of the method. She has a good grasp of theology as well. I can see why she is so highly regarded. Yours in Christ, Rob

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