Amen: What Prayer Can Mean in a World Beyond Belief

by Gretta Vosper

Overview

A New Vision of How and Why We Pray, and How We Might Move Beyond Conventional Prayer, Prayer is an essential part of the daily lives of many people. Some believe this practice connects them with God, a cosmic force, the universe or life itself. Others engage in the act of prayer as a traditional ritual from which they neither demand nor expect results. Many of these people cannot imagine living without prayer. Many others, however, consider the idea of praying regularly as nothing more than a waste of time. In Amen, Gretta Vosper examines these diverse positions in light of the harsh realities of unanswered prayer, the secular critique of supernatural intervention, and the need for a sense of ownership of the suffering in the world. Can we draw from prayer useful principles for addressing human and global needs? Or should we get up from our knees and live out the answers we seek? Vosper, a United Church minister and the author of the controversial bestseller With or Without God, delivers a deeply felt examination of worship beyond conventional prayer and offers us a new tradition that can rise above the beliefs that divide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062322128
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/07/2014
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

GRETTA VOSPER is pastor of West Hill United Church in Toronto and founder of the Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity, an organization that provides resources and support to those exploring the boundaries of Christian thought both

Table of Contents

Introduction: What about Prayer? 1

Part 1 In a World of Beliefs

1 Prayer: Religion's Main Event 15

2 Stretching Beyond the Core Narrative 20

3 Tracing the Influence of Core Assumptions 64

Part 2 In a World Still Tied to Beliefs

4 In-spired: Prayer in the Average Church 79

5 Supernatural ACTS 99

Part 3 In a World of Exposed Beliefs

6 Hanging On to the Language 169

7 Moving On with the Values 187

Part 4 In a World Beyond Belief

8 (Prayer) Naturally 207

9 Natural ACTS 232

Part 5 In a World in Need

10 Empact 285

Epilogue 309

Acknowledgments 317

Notes 321

Index 343