Healing Through Prayer: Health Practitioners Tell the Story

Rating:
Summary: An ecumenical exploration and inspiration
Review:
This is a thin book of 27 chapters, each presenting a health practitioner's perspective and experience with prayer. The book is published by Toronto's Anglican Book Centre, but includes a wide variety of Christian viewpoints, medical researchers' "recovering-agnostic" thoughts, and selections from Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, and Native practitioners. The first chapters have nice overviews of scientific research documenting prayer's benefits (e.g., by Larry Dossey, MD). Later chapters present fascinating challenges and blessings in varied settings, using varied styles of prayer, and giving readers numerous models to consider for how to deepen their prayer lives and ministries.

Each chapter gives background on the practitioner interviewed and then presents answers to questions related to their particular work and experience. Interesting issues are raised throughout, such as: the most effective forms of prayer, the possibility of *negative* effects, ethical issues in seeking permission, qualities a person can cultivate to be a more effective channel of prayer.

I found myself wanting to hear a lot more from some of the practitioners than this brief volume allowed, but the book is uplifting and very helpful in suggesting people under whom you might pursue further study. The breadth of the experiences recounted offers a fertile ground for exploring common elements among all approaches to prayer, healing, and peace.