Review: "40 Questions on Prayer"

 

I have read several of Kregel’s “40 Questions” books, and, by and large, I have found them to be informative and useful.  I have just read 40 Questions on Prayer by Joseph C. Harrod – which no one should be surprised is on the topic of prayer.

Harrod begins by stating his bedrock definition of prayer comes from John Bunyan, “Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God hath promised, or, according to the Word, for the good of the Church, with submission, in Faith, to the will of God” (19).  The answer to the questions are given with this definition in mind.

As with each volume, each chapter begins with a question followed by the answer and ends with a summary of the chapter and reflection questions which can be used for personal reflection or group discussion.

The book is divided into sections of question of general questions, prayer and theology, pray in the Scripture, prayer in practice, and prayer in historical context.

I found two sections to be especially strong and helpful – that on praying the Scripture – both to guide our expression and content of our prayers, and the history of the understanding of prayer and praying.  There seems to be a “chronological snobbery” – a C. S. Lewis put it – that continues on – the idea that what is said and taught and believed and seen as good today is where we ought to put most or all of our attention.  Harrod points out that there is much value in the historical studies of prayer.

One problem I had was his exegesis of Genesis where Harrod say that the three men who visited Abraham is a theophany of God as three men – that the Trinity temporarily appeared as men (198).  If for no other reason, the text says this is not the case – Genesis 18:33 says that the Lord – one of the three men – left.  Here is a Theophany. However the other two men were not members of the Trinity – Genesis 19:1 says that the other two men were angels.

Overall, this is an excellent book for anyone wanting to know more about prayer.  There are some areas where I wish there was some greater detail in some areas – but this isn’t an academic thesis.  The identity of the three men in Genesis 18 needs to be corrected.

Well worth buying.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

[This review appears on my blog, Amazon.com, Kregel.com, and Goodreads.com.]