To grow in prayer, get this simple book
10.29.2011 | All Blog Posts, Books and Resources, Contemplation and Meditation, How to Pray, Those Who Show Us the Way
If I could keep with me only two books and a journal, this book would be one of the books. As far as I’m concerned it’s the most important book (and among the most influential) on Christian prayer in the last two millennia.
We don’t know the author’s name, but only that he was a British monk, living in the fourteenth century. The Cloud of Unknowing is a personal letter written to a young person seeking fulfillment in Christ through prayer. The author’s lesser known companion essay, The Book of Privy Counsel, is a follow up letter to the young disciple, providing simple yet profound instruction for the life of contemplative prayer.
Carmen Acevado Butcher’s new translation is a gem. She draws the earthy language of the fourteenth century into the idiom of our own. You’ll feel like the monk is speaking directly to you.
10.31.2011
thanks for passing this new translation along. I just took a preview look at it on amazon – Carmen writes in a very accessible way. I’ve loved this book for the past few years, but may have to toss my current copy for this new translation.
11.01.2011
I’ve read several translations, and this one sings. I keep the copy always nearby. I hope you’re well, brother. Think of you often. The staff just finished midday prayer and we prayed for you, Dave, and Eric.
11.04.2011
[...] To grow in prayer, get this simple book [...]
11.05.2011
“Want him, and not anything he’s made. Don’t let anything else run through your mind. … Do this work until you delight in it.”
Reminds me of Desiring God. Sounds interesting.
11.07.2011
James, a lovely quote you’ve found.
4.14.2012
[...] reading the Cloud of Unknowing. The medieval teacher urges me to attach (adhere) to God: ”in a manner take hold of our God [...]
5.12.2012
[...] Comments How to let go of what is unhealthy or unholy | chris erdman on To grow in prayer, get this simple bookBetty Braddy on What music can teach us about prayerchris erdman on How to hear GOD speak to you [...]
5.24.2012
[...] to his flock, “You must abandon everything you know to love the one thing you cannot think” (The Cloud of Unknowing). But within a few hundred years, that orthodox teaching was turned upside down. God could now be [...]
1.13.2013
Hi, Chris, a good friend sent me to your site tonight, it is illuminating, and I am thankful for your ministry in love and in prayer. Blessings on you and on your family in 2013! Carmen
1.14.2013
Carmen, good to hear from you. Keep writing and translating. The world needs your work. And I love the voice you give to ancient authors!