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drbobcornwall's review
4.0
It is standard Trinitarian procedure to pray to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. Praying directly to the Spirit is a much less common occurrence. Jack Levison, who has written a number of thoughtful books on the Holy Spirit, has composed a set of prayers to the Holy Spirit, which are now published by Paraclete Press.
In his earlier books Levison has tried to develop an Pneumatology that balances ecstasy with learning and virtue. He challenges Charismatics and Pentecostals to deepen their theology of the Spirit. You some of this attempt to bring a balanced approach to our thinking about the Holy Spirit in this book of prayers. Levison notes that offering up a book of prayers to the Holy Spirit is rather unique, even an "oddity." While acknowledges that a collection of prayers directed to the Spirit might exist, he doesn't know of any. Thus, this offering.
To benefit from the book of prayers Levison suggest that we need to take into consideration three words: Spirit, Fill, and Brood. The first word, Spirit, is the translation of the Hebrew ruach. which can be also translated as wind and breath. He suggests that we will benefit if we keep all three words in mind as we pray the prayers. The second word is fill (Heb. ml'), and speaks of "making full, bringing to completion, fruition, wholeness, fullness" (p. x). The third word is brood (Heb. rachbach). He writes: "when we first meet the Spirit, in the Bible's seventeenth word (in the original Hebrew), we glimpse a bird of prey plucking its young, carrying them to safety, and teaching them to fly. Chaos can't withstand the eagle's presence" (p. xi). He writes that the book offers engagement -- a reminder that in the Spirit we are prepared to fly, not hide!
With this mind we attend to the prayers. There are five sections of prayers. Prayers to the Spirit for the Morning, the Evening, Discernment, moments of crisis, and anytime. Each prayer is paired with a reading from Scripture. There are also two indexes -- to first lines and to Scripture.
The prayers are thoughtful, even poetic. They take into account the Scripture readings. They have theological grounding. They are worth engaging, so that we might fly!
In his earlier books Levison has tried to develop an Pneumatology that balances ecstasy with learning and virtue. He challenges Charismatics and Pentecostals to deepen their theology of the Spirit. You some of this attempt to bring a balanced approach to our thinking about the Holy Spirit in this book of prayers. Levison notes that offering up a book of prayers to the Holy Spirit is rather unique, even an "oddity." While acknowledges that a collection of prayers directed to the Spirit might exist, he doesn't know of any. Thus, this offering.
To benefit from the book of prayers Levison suggest that we need to take into consideration three words: Spirit, Fill, and Brood. The first word, Spirit, is the translation of the Hebrew ruach. which can be also translated as wind and breath. He suggests that we will benefit if we keep all three words in mind as we pray the prayers. The second word is fill (Heb. ml'), and speaks of "making full, bringing to completion, fruition, wholeness, fullness" (p. x). The third word is brood (Heb. rachbach). He writes: "when we first meet the Spirit, in the Bible's seventeenth word (in the original Hebrew), we glimpse a bird of prey plucking its young, carrying them to safety, and teaching them to fly. Chaos can't withstand the eagle's presence" (p. xi). He writes that the book offers engagement -- a reminder that in the Spirit we are prepared to fly, not hide!
With this mind we attend to the prayers. There are five sections of prayers. Prayers to the Spirit for the Morning, the Evening, Discernment, moments of crisis, and anytime. Each prayer is paired with a reading from Scripture. There are also two indexes -- to first lines and to Scripture.
The prayers are thoughtful, even poetic. They take into account the Scripture readings. They have theological grounding. They are worth engaging, so that we might fly!