"Not a book to be read, but a book to be savored. Beautifully structured, it leads us through twelve cycles to the very heart of prayer. Our companions along the way are the great voices of the Christian tradition, past and present, some well-known and some new acquaintances. Each page, indeed paragraph, invites lingering and prayerful pondering."—Margaret Guenther, author of The Practice of Prayer

"Lorraine Kisly has cast her net far and wide, and the catch is heavy, but the boat isn't swamped. A wonderful generosity of spirit animates this anthology."—John Wilson, editor, Christianity Today

"Again and again, the same peace, the same stillness, the same quality of focused attention. Even the skeptical reader begins to believe that they are not talking about nothing, these voices so widely scattered in place and time. As for the bold reader, she begins to consider trying it."—Jack Miles, author of God: A Biography

From John Chrysostom in the fourth century to Teresa of Avila in the sixteenth to William Butler Yeats in the twentieth, this wide-ranging collection is a treasury of writings on prayer from throughout the history of Christianity. Lorraine Kisly has arranged the material according to the great general themes of prayer—such as praise, thanksgiving, repentance, and purification—to make this anthology serve as a course in Christian prayer for anyone, as well as a marvelous companion for the contemplative journey in general. "If this book is read truly," says Bishop Seraphim Sigrist, in his introduction, "the reader will surely find the beginning of prayer itself, and this is to open another book with no end at all."

Christian Teachings on the Practice of Prayer features writings by: