With clarity, wisdom, and wit, Brian Taylor offers a fresh look
at contemplative prayer as the pathway to genuine healing and
spiritual transformation. Taylor gives practical, how-to advice for
those with a serious interest in contemplative prayer, and also
explores its roots in the faith and traditions of the church.
This book is itself the fruit of years of contemplative practice,
and whether you are new to this form of prayer or an experienced
practitioner, Taylor's insight, encouragement, and guidance will
enhance and strengthen your efforts to draw nearer to the heart of
God in prayer, and in doing so, become more fully conformed to the
image of Christ.
It would be unfair to tell a prospective reader of this book that it is ‘easy.' As with most worthwhile things in this world, the read is easy&mdsh;mastering the methods and goals this book explains is hard. If you are interested in doing some serious work in the three major areas of ‘Contemplation, Illumination and Union with God,' then this is a book with which you should spend some time.
This is a very nice, practical treatment of the journey into the contemplative for ordinary people. The contemplative journey is demystified without watering it down.
. . . among all the detritus, flotsam, and muck, Becoming Christ could serve as a strategically tossed life preserver.
Brian Taylor is doing us a great service in providing such a clearly written, profoundly ancient, and yet contemporary basis for this larger knowing [of God in Christ] that we now call contemplation. If you are a beginner—and aren't we all—you will find a solid foundation here. If you are wanting to go further, there is enough good material here to build a second or third floor of wisdom. This is not just spirituality, which is ‘in' now, but even, dare we say it, the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
BRIAN C. TAYLOR lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he has been the rector of St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church since 1983. He is married and the father of two grown sons. His previous books are Spirituality for Everyday Living: An Adaptation of the Rule of St. Benedict and Setting the Gospel Free: Experiential Faith and Contemplative Practice.