The Possibilities of Prayer in the 21st Century

About the Book

The Possibilities of Prayer in the 21st Century situates prayer in the perspective of today's world. Who are we? Are we composed of bodies and souls as is often supposed? The author explores this question and discusses the possibility that we may be said to have an innate capacity for communion with the source of all life. A chapter on how we understand God today is followed by a description of the prayer of monks and mystics in the past two millennia. Suggestions for prayer for the non Christian as well as the Christian complete this appraisal of prayer for the 21st century person.

The Anglican Cistercians of Ewell Monastery, the second section of the book, is a gripping account of the foundation and daily life of this Cistercian community. Always small in numbers when vocations to community life were falling dramatically in the 1960s, the monks lived a genuine, reformed Cistercian life of prayer, community and work for 38 years in the Church of England.

The Essays and Verse concluding the book are explorations into aspects of Christ's life and death over which Christians have differed for centuries, and about the essential relationship between the gospel and worship.

About the Author

Aelred Arnesen read theology at Queens' College, Cambridge. After ordination he served in a parish in Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1955 he joined the Society of St Francis, an Anglican community of friars, and made his life profession with them. In 1966, with the support of the Society of St Francis, he founded Ewell Monastery, the Anglican Cistercian community at West Malling in Kent, to which he was transferred as a monk in life vows. When the monastery was closed in 2004 he moved to Cambridge, UK.