A LIBRARIAN’S ORIENTATION
What this book explores
Thomas Keating introduces Centering Prayer as a contemporary form of Christian contemplative practice rooted in consent to God's presence and action within. He explains the use of a sacred word, the handling of thoughts, periods of silence, and the gradual exposure of emotional programs and defensive patterns that he believes divine love can heal over time.
EDITORIAL NOTE
Why it’s in the Library
It provides a practical entrance into Christian silence for travelers who know prayer mainly as words, requests, or doctrinal reflection. Keating's account also shows that contemplative practice is not simply relaxation: it belongs to a theology of grace, consent, transformation, and relationship with God. The book can help readers test whether Christian practice remains alive even when certainty or conventional prayer has become difficult.
Good starting place if…
You want step-by-step guidance in a Christian silent-prayer practice and are comfortable with explicitly Trinitarian, grace-centered language about interior transformation.
Know before you begin…
Centering Prayer is a modern Christian method with particular theological interpretations; it is not identical to Buddhist mindfulness, secular meditation, or every historical form of contemplation. Keating's language about the unconscious and ‘divine therapy’ is spiritually and psychologically suggestive rather than clinical science. Intensive practice can surface difficult material and should not substitute for mental-health care.