Description:
Plekon argues that prayer encompasses a much wider variety of activity than formal and liturgical prayers and that commonplace aspects of the Christian life are best understood as prayer.
Brief description:
Michael Plekon is professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and in the Program in Religion and Culture at Baruch College of the City University of New York. He is also an ordained priest in the Orthodox Church in America and the author or editor of a number of books, including Hidden Holiness and Saints As They Really Are: Voices of Holiness in Our Time, both published by the University of Notre Dame Press.
Review Quotes:
"A skilled teacher and guide, Michael Plekon leads readers into the experience of lived prayer with the depth of a scholar and the wisdom of a seeker. Plekon's book brilliantly moves beyond the valuable yet limited tradition of academic studies on prayer to present us with a new and compelling look at the rich diversity of approaches toward increased awareness of and communication with the divine. Accompanied by poets and authors, pastors and ministers, theologians and preachers alike, Plekon lucidly helps to renew the scholarly and practical definition of prayer. Regardless of what prior views about prayer and praxis one brings to this text, Uncommon Prayer invites all readers to expand the horizon of their experience and risk an extraordinary encounter of the divine in everyday life." --Daniel P. Horan, OFM, author of The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton