Works on Meditation and Contemplative Prayer for Christians

This section, too, provides only the briefest list of some significant writers on the large subject of meditation or contemplative prayer. Although there are multiple approaches to such prayer as we show through our groupings of authors, they share the characteristics of solitude and silence.

Although contemplative prayer can be reliably shown to be present in Christianity from its earliest centuries, it has not always been widely understood, practised, or appreciated. The recovery of this dimension of prayer has been a growing reality for Western Christians for almost a century. The recovery can be traced to deeper encounters with Eastern Orthodoxy, especially hesychasm and the Jesus Prayer, and more recently with Asian spiritual traditions including yoga. 

Abhishiktanananda, (Henri Le Saux, O.S.B.) Prayer. London: SPCK, 1967, revised edition 1972.

The author, a Frenchman by birth and a priest of the Benedictine order, lived as a holy man in a hermitage at Gyansu in the Himalayas, taking an Indian name which means “Bliss of the Anointed One.” The book combines treasures of Indian spiritual heritage with a profound and satisfying Christian teaching.

Anonymous, The Cloud of Unknowing with the Book of Privy Counsel. A new translation by Carmen Acevedo Butcher. Boston and London: Shambhala, 2011. 

This classic of English mysticism is a series of letters from a monk to his student, instructing him in the way of divine union. The writer’s approach is friendly, practical, and very understandable. As the original text is in Middle English, a number of translations exist. Carmen Acevedo Butcher has prepared a superb translation into a modern English idiom. She provides helpful notes to account for some of her translation decisions that help the reader to understand not only aspects of Middle English but also the larger religious and cultural context. Also included is the companion work attributed to the same author, The Book of Privy Counsel, which continues the practical teaching begun in The Cloud. Many contemporary writers on contemplative prayer, e.g., Main, Merton, Bourgeault, Rohr, refer to The Cloud.

For those who read French, see also Le Nuage de l’inconnaissance.Une mystique pour notre temps, Paris: Albin Michel, 2009. The French translation is presented by Catholic Bernard Durel, a Dominican priest. Durel’s formation in Zen practice provides helpful insights into apophatic prayer and the silencing of the intellect.

Amaldas. Christian Yogic Meditation. Wilmington, Delaware: Michael Glazier, Inc., 1983.

Continues the work he began in his earlier book with greater emphasis and detail on meditation as growth in Christ consciousness.

Bourgeault, Cynthia, The Heart of Centering Prayer, Nondual Christianity in Theory and Practice, Shambhala, 2016  

Provides an overview and history of the practice of Centering Prayer developed by Thomas Keating based on The Cloud of Unknowing.  Explains in detail how it differs from other forms of meditation; discusses non-dual thinking from religious and scientific points of view and revisits The Cloud with commentary.   Not for the faint of heart, more esoteric and takes time to read and digest.

Carlo SVD, Gilbert, Christian Meditation Through Yoga. Pune, India: Ishvani Publications, 1999.

An overview of yoga, with an emphasis falling on yoga for prayer. Includes some description of asana with photographs of acceptable quality. The author, a Roman Catholic priest from India, includes some mantras and chants in Sanskrit with Christian content. Apparently there is a tape with the music for these. He has also produced a couple of videos.

Déchanet, Jean-Marie, Yoga and God. St Meinrad, Indiana: Abbey Press, 1975. 

Proposes yoga as a way of harmonizing all one's human desires--physical, psychic, intellectual, and spiritual--to move forward as a whole human being and become what one is: a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

De Mello, Anthony,  Sadhana, A Way to God, Christian Exercises in Eastern Form, Image Doubleday Books, 1978

A beautiful set of exercises to deepen the prayer experience written by a long time Jesuit priest and retreat leader.  The book has three parts, one describes the benefits of developing awareness individually and in a group context and lists 14 exercises on developing awareness including breath awareness, thought control and finding God in all things.   The second part includes 17 exercises on visualization to draw closer to God, and a third part called ‘devotion” is exercises including vocal prayer, the Jesus Prayer, The Name as Presence and more.  An excellent resource for retreat or prayer group leaders and lovely for individual seekers looking for ways to shift the prayer experience from head to heart. 

Edwards, Tilden, Living in the Presence, Spiritual Exercises to Open Our Lives to the Awareness of God, Harper, San Francisco, 1994

Written by the former director of Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation and a long-time retreat leader, this book offers support in teaching the practice of presence in prayer life.  It includes many exercises to develop inner awareness including grounding, sound and silence, re-membering (parts of ourselves) and exercises to establish healthy service as action.  Includes a thorough, useful “how to” section on leading small groups in practicing presence.

Ferguson, Jane “Centering Prayer as a Healing Response to Everyday Stress: A Psychological and Spiritual Process,” Pastoral Psychology 59.3 (2010). 

Jane Ferguson conducted research on the effects of Thomas Keating’s Centering Prayer meditation method on Roman Catholics. She finds Centering Prayer as beneficial to Christians by reducing everyday stress and increasing devotion to God. Centering Prayer, she explains, deepens a person’s “relationship with God without reducing it to a relaxation technique.”   

Finley, James, Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God, HarperCollins, 2004

For beginning meditators as well as those more experienced in need of encouragement, James Finley, a former monk and student of Thomas Merton, presents his deep understanding of the clear aims and practices of Christian meditation. His work is accessible, his instructions are simple, his writing style gentle and poetic enough to be well-suited for pauses and contemplative breaks. This work lovingly encourages daily practice and offers basic guidelines, without dictating a single style of meditation.

Griffiths, Bede, The New Creation in Christ. Christian Meditation and Community. Springfield, Illinois: Templegate Publishers, 1992.

The Benedictine monk, Bede Griffiths, was director for many years of Shantivanam ashram in the south of India. He made it famous as a centre where people of different religious traditions could meet in an atmosphere of silence, simplicity, and meditation.This book is based on the lectures he gave at the 1991 John Main seminar for the Christian Meditation Community. He explores points of convergence and commonality between the tradition of Christian meditation and the great spiritual traditions of Asia. Two chapters are devoted to mantra meditation alone. The author also discusses the hopeful signs of new ways of living in community that arise from meditative practice. The author writes in a clear and engaging way that should be accessible even to those who know very little about any of these subjects.

Hughes, Louis Body, Mind, and Spirit: to Harmony through Meditation. Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third Publications, 1991. 

Focuses on 8 keys to Christian meditation: rest, breath, body, place, sound, rhythm, simplicity, wholeness. The chapter on body presents yoga postures. Also includes short presentations on breathing methods and chakras. 

Johnston, William, Silent Music. The Science of Meditation. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1974.

One of many works by this author, this is a synthesis of insights from modern science and time-honoured wisdom from Eastern and Western religious traditions. Having taught for many years at Sophia University in Tokyo, the author is especially conversant with Zen meditation.

Ratzinger, Joseph Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation – Orationis Formas.” Vatican: 1989.

A papal response was released in the late eighties due to the increased curiosity of non-Christian meditation practice. While the document does not condemn “eastern” meditation practices, it does caution Catholics not to fall into the traps of syncretism and selfishness when practicing these methods. All forms of meditative prayer, whether Christian or not, should be devotional and the goal should only be a grace gifted by God’s discretion. 

Keating, Thomas, Intimacy with God:  An Introduction to Centering Prayer, CrossRoads, 1994

Father Keating is one Guiding Light of the Christians Practicing Yoga and Meditation movement. See Centering Prayer or Contemplative Outreach.

Keating, Thomas,  Open Mind, Open Heart, Continuum Books, 1986 

Subtitled “The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel,” this book is an essential primer on Centering Prayer--the why and the how-to of Centering Prayer, one of the three main forms of contemplative prayer in Christianity. The author of this book, Fr. Thomas Keating, was a Trappist monk and a central figure in the recent contemplative movement in Christianity. He published Open Mind, Open Heart in 1986 as a way of making Centering Prayer more accessible to Christians. Find out more by reading the book or visiting Contemplative Outreach.

Main, Father John, Door to Silence, An Anthology for Chrisitan Meditation, Canterbury Press, 2006,   Father Main is another Guiding Light for the Christians Practicing Yoga and Meditation movement. The world community for Christian meditation grew from his work:  www.wccm.org

Short chapters on prayer, on listening, on developing stillness to better reach the silence that is God’s language.  With focus on developing a meditation practice, he offers short pregnant paragraphs on the process of learning what is now known as Christian Meditation using a simple word or phrase to direct attention towards God (wccm.org).  Topics include the vision of unity, truth, levels of distraction and learning to expect nothing.A lovely dip in and out sort of text for teachers and students.

Mascharenas, B.C.M., Yoga and Christian Thought. Bombay: Society of Saint Paul, 1973?

A good introduction to yoga that locates it within the larger context of Hindu thought and practice. The author considers points of convergence and divergence between Christianity and yoga. Less emphasis on asana than on philosophical matters and meditation practice. 

McColman, Carl, The Big Book of Christian Mysticism, The Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality, Hampton Roads Publishing, 2010

Explores mysticism and its contribution to Christian thinking;  delves into aspects of contemplative life including the the heart of mystery, Lectio Divina, prayer beyond words and much more.  Includes valuable appendices, (e.g. historical and contemporary Christian contemplatives, extensive reading list, and bibliography).  Well researched, academic, yet readable.  Written by a deep thinking  lay associate of the Cistercian Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Georgia, USA.

Meninger, William A., The Loving Search for God, Contemplative Prayer and The Cloud of Unknowing, Continuum, 2000

Foundational work beneath Thomas Keating’s method known as Centering Prayer,  this little book is not a translation or commentary, but “an attempt to share the message of love found in The Cloud”  in a way that is more easily understood by modern readers.  Menninger taught retreats for twenty-five years based on this text written in the 14th century by an anonymous English monk.  His offering brings new light to the ‘how to’ of contemplative practices.

Merton, Thomas, and Sweeney, Jon M., A Course in Christian Mysticism: Thirteen Sessions with the Famous Trappist Monk Thomas Merton. Collegeville, MN: LITURGICAL Press, 2017.

Jon M. Sweeney crafted this book through a compilation of a lecture series presented at Gethsemane Abbey in the 1960s. By this time Merton was already heavily influenced by Eastern traditions. This lecture series was near the publishing of his book, Mystics and Zen Masters, implying an Eastern influence to discussing Christian mysticism. He also refers to William St. Thierry, a theologian and mystic who influenced the author of Christian Yoga, Jean-Marie Dechanet. 

Rama, Swami, Bouldin, O’Brien, Arpita, Rothluebber, Arya, Meditation in Christianity, The Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of USA,1983

A collection of essays written by six eastern and western spiritual teachers (both female and male) about the important place of meditation to more fully know the inner life and come closer to the essence of God.  Topics include the process of meditation, Hesychasm and the origins of Christian meditative discipline, Jesus, The Bible and meditation, and Christian meditation in light of yoga.

Ryan, Thomas, Prayer of Heart and Body. Meditation and Yoga as Christian Spiritual Practice. New York: Paulist Press, 1995.

The first part of the book is an introduction and guide to meditation; the second explores how Yoga can help a Christian to pray. Probably the most complete and accessible Christian introduction now available. The author, a Roman Catholic priest, is a certified Kripalu Yoga teacher.

Ryan, Thomas, Interreligious Prayer: A Christian Guide, New Jersey, Paulist Press, 2008.

Interreligious Prayer is a compass to help Christians find their way responsibly in interreligious encounters. The book addresses questions that inevitably arise in these encounters, practical considerations related to planning, and a compilation of prayer resources from different faiths that might be used in varying kinds of interreligious events. 

Ryan, Thomas, Praying with Beads 

Praying by Hand, Praying with Beads: A Universal Form of Prayer, New Jersey, Paulist Press, 2019. This book presents the “what”, “why” and “how” of beaded prayer underlying Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim ways of praying with beads. It aims to strengthen, enrich, and motivate one’s present practice by increasing awareness that around the world beads are a helpful instrument in prayer. (This book has been reviewed here)

Zaleski, Irma, Living the Jesus Prayer. Ottawa: Novalis, 1997. 

Beautifully written introduction to the technique of the prayer and a meditation on its import.