Brian's Blog

I wanted to let you know about my latest book Astonished by the Word: Reading Scripture for Deep Transformation. It releases August 15...

The Book of Psalms is a collection of prayers written originally to shape God’s people in ancient Israel for identity, mission, community...

Greetings friends, Here are two quotations that I've been pondering this past week as part of my contemplative practices: Julian of...

Reading Scripture for deep transformation requires that we open ourselves fully to the work God desires to do in us. Praying for a Real...

While writing Centering Prayer: Sitting Quietly in God’s Presence Can Change Your Life (Paraclete Press, 2021 https://amzn.to/3tEQuHe ), I had the privilege of reading close to one hundred books and articles on the topic. Below are my favorites. I’ve divided them into three categories: ancient, classics, and second generation books. Ancient: Evagrius Ponticus, Praktikos and Chapters on Prayer https://amzn.to/3y1lELF Evagrius was a 5th century monastic. He studied carefully

The four "R's" are the classic advice to practitioners of centering prayer on how to think about and surrender our thoughts while in...