Prayer（ISBN=） 英文原版

Readers explore the way those who pray–whether in modern
America or in ancient Babylon–hope for magic and submit to the
divine will, seek for answers and contemplate mysteries. The
Zaleskis limn traditional taxonomies of prayer that have long
differentiated adoration from confession, thanksgiving from
intercession, and they examine the forms of language, art, and
music through which generations of believers have reached toward
heaven. But many readers will particularly value the distinctively
contemporary note in the survey of scientific studies of the
efficacy of prayer and in the dissection of recent controversies
over prayer in schools and other public forums. Surprisingly,
investigation of modern prayer ends up teaching almost as much
about skeptics (such as Darwin’s cousin, Francis Galton) as about
saints (such as Therese Martin). And in the American passions
stirred by post-9/11 prayers, readers will discern a tangle of
devotion and politics.

CAROL ZALESKI is the author of “Otherworld Journeys” and
coeditor, with Philip Zaleski, of “The Book of Heaven”. She
contributes a monthly column to Christian Century and is a
professor of religion at Smith College.PHILIP ZALESKI, editor of
The Best American Spiritual Writing 2004, is the author of many
acclaimed books on religion, including “The Recollected Heart”,
“Gifts of the Spirit”, and “The Book of Heaven”. He is a senior
editor at Parabola as well as a research associate in religion at
Smith College.~

I. god’s ‘Breath
  1. The Foundations of Prayer
  2. Magic
  3. Deeper Magic
II. Heart in (Pilgrimage
  4. The Refugee
  5. The Devotee
  6. The Ecstatic
  7. The Contemplative
III. The Land of ~qpices
  8. Prayer and Tradition
  9. Prayer and the Modern Arts
  lO. Prayer and the Public Square
IV. ,Something Understood
  11. Prayer and Healing
  12. The Efficacy of Prayer
  13. The Mystery of Prayer
Works Cited
Notes
Index