Becoming Christ: Transformation Through Contemplation

by Brian C. Taylor

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461660491
Publisher:	Cowley Publications
Publication date:	01/25/2002
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	234
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgements	vii
	Foreword	ix
Part 1	Practice	1
1	Getting Started	3
2	Praying with the Will, the Mind, and the Heart	33
3	Abiding in Christ	63
Part 2	Context	89
4	The Contemplative in the Church	91
5	Traditional Disciplines	113
6	Finding Support	137
Part 3	Transformation	155
7	Going Deeper	157
8	Learning from Difficulty	187
9	Becoming Free	209
Appendix	A Bibliography of Patristic and Eastern Orthodox Sources	231

Editorial Reviews

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.

Richard Rohr

.. . among all the detritus, flotsam, and muck, Becoming Christ could serve as a strategically tossed life preserver.

The Anglican Theological Review

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.

St. Placid Priory

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—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.

Prairie Spirit