"40 Questions about Prayer" (Joseph C. Harrod)

TITLE: 40 Questions About Prayer
AUTHOR: Joseph C. Harrod
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2022, (296 pages).

The disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to do it. Pastors and preachers pepper their sermons with it. Church services are full of them. Sunday School teachers start their classes with them. We do it before we eat our meals. In the most desperate of situations, we utter these words to the Divine. Even the Bible has lots of examples in it. Prayer. Most people would say prayer is an important expression of faith. Prayer is to spirituality as oxygen is to breathing. Many of us have heard of people praying during difficult times. Others pray when they need guidance. Sometimes, we would comfort one another with a promise to intercede for needs. What is there to ask about prayer? Apparently, a lot, at least 40 questions! In this popular series that condenses spiritual topics into a question-and-answer format, author Joseph Harrod has compiled a list of 40 questions about prayer covering five aspects. The purpose of this book is to enable readers to re-engage more intimately with Scripture and to consider the theological basis of prayer. These five  aspects that Harrod covers are:

1. General questions about Prayer (4 Qs)
2. Theological questions about Prayer (10 Qs)
3. The Bible and Prayer (11 Qs)
4. Practical questions about Prayer (12 Qs)
5. Historical Contexts of Prayer (3 Qs)

Readers get to learn about the diverse ways of prayer. We expand our praying beyond mere supplication. More importantly, we learn about the discipline of letting the Bible inform and guide the way we pray. That is why Harrod allocates a substantial part of the book to theology and Scripture. More than half of the questions deal with this. Christian Prayer is Trinitarian Prayer. It is also worship. Interestingly, with prayer as the main pivot for spirituality, the author manages to draw in many other aspects of spirituality. We learn about the Lord's Prayer. We look at the basics of who and how to address our prayers toward. Even the way we end our prayers is explained. Why do we end with Jesus' Name in prayer? Some interesting topics deal with evangelism and non-believers. On this subject, we learn about how God's heart is big enough to accommodate anyone who seeks Him out. Prayer is also spiritual warfare. This and many more should not just whet the appetites of the curious, it entices readers to want to learn more. 

The strength of this book lies in the way the author connects the topic of prayer with Scripture. From the Old Testament Psalms to the gospels, Pauline epistles to the epistle of James, we learn that Scripture is full of prayer prompts to enable us to pray. I feel that the part about "Prayer in Scripture" could be easily expanded to fill up the whole book too. The one on "Prayer in Practice" highlights some of the most interesting parts of the book. Areas like the posture of prayer, using written prayers, arguing with God, and other practical matters are dealt with. What I loved about the way Harrod writes is the amount of biblical backing he allocates in his answers to every question. He does not simply cite the bible verses. He connects them to the point, and where necessary, draws in other resources too. 

With prayer being such a large topic, the author has excluded contemplative prayer, prayer among women, prayer with the disabled, centering prayer, Jesus Prayer, etc. Perhaps, the author could include these in a second volume in the near future. Reading this book reminds me once again of the traditional use of catechism in some mainline churches. Books like this might fill in the gap between catechism and conventional Christian literature. Those who seek to pray better should always use the Bible more. Those who are unsure why should begin with this book.

Joseph C. Harrod (PhD, Biblical Spirituality, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) currently serves as assistant professor of biblical spirituality and associate vice president for institutional effectiveness at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of Theology and Spirituality in the Works of Samuel Davies and numerous journal articles.

Rating: 4.5 stars of 5.

conrade

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This book has been provided courtesy of Kregel Academic without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.