Reviews

Booklist

Not all of the individuals quoted in this collection of favorite prayers share the belief that prayer is about petitioning for or investing in desired outcomes. Even so, as an extremely diverse group, the almost 100 men and women here have consistently managed to achieve high levels of effectiveness in helping others. Consistently, they all attribute their potency as leaders to their faith and beliefs. From Buddhist nuns and Jesuit priests to Nobel Prize winners and spiritual writers, the core of strength for each comes from putting beliefs into action. By sharing the Gospels, poetry, verses, and personal contemplations that motivate them, these leaders offer strength to others attempting to find their way. This book is best digested a passage or two a day with time spent for contemplation or discussion. It is an invaluable tool for solitary or group motivation and inspiration.

— Susan DeGrane

Let us Pray

There are as many ways to pray as there are people who pray, a diversity that extends to books about prayer as well. These three recent releases are quite different, but each touches upon important aspects of the spiritual life that undergirds Christian living.

Recent years have seen an outpouring of popular and scholarly books about Flannery O’Connor. Despite the intense literary and biographical focus accorded this Catholic novelist, emphasis on her own life of faith and prayer has been comparatively rare. The Province of Joy, by the Fordham University professor and America contributor Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, helps fill this notable gap.

— Timothy O’Brien

Catholic Books

In the introduction to A World of Prayer, Rosalind Bradley writes the following about the purpose of her book: “Our current global situation with its ongoing tensions, wars, and conflicts has convinced me of the importance of finding ways to transcend religious divides and foster greater understanding and mutual respect between the world’s religions” (xxiv). Bradley’s motivation is commendable, and I do think this publication has the potential of fostering greater understanding among people of different religious backgrounds. Rather than approaching faith traditions from a detached, observational perspective, A World of Prayer ushers readers into the more intimate realm of devotional experience, thereby encouraging readers to understand, as it were, from within—that is, to approach the transcendent from the perspective of the various religions’ actual practitioners.

— Ryan Marr

Spirituality Practice

It is very gratifying to see in this devotional collection an affirmation of both contemplation and social action. This emphasis comes across in the prayer choices of those who are active in social justice, human rights, peacemaking, and environmentalism.

— Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

National Catholic Weekly

Bradley is surely correct on a major point: that prayer, common to all faiths, can lead individuals to bridge religious divides. In that spirit, this text can serve as a valuable resource for those who work in interreligious dialogue or who are interested in it. Better still, it is of use for all of us who seek to deepen our religious literacy in a world that is growing increasingly more diverse.

— Timothy W. O'Brien, S.J.

Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions Bookshelf

Engaging in interfaith dialogue through activism and involvement across faiths and organizations in Australia is the calling in Bradley’s work invigorating to this collection. Boasting a spectrum of faiths, Bradley is herself a mosaic (such is the title of her first publication, Mosaic) of personal faiths and spiritual journeys having experienced a richly eclectic involvement in several religious traditions. This diversity of perspective is championed by a book of thoughtful and sometimes very personal meditations.