Gabriel Bunge, OSB, Earthen Vessels; the Practice of Personal Prayer According to the Patristic tradition.

Gabriel Bunge, OSB, Earthen Vessels; The Practice of Personal Prayer According to the Patristic Tradition, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2002, 222 pages with index, $28.25 (Cdn)

We lice in an age of severe turmoil, a culture that often denies transcendence, but nonetheless one that sometimes searches its roots for renewal of the inner life. To assist this quest, there is no dearth of unsubstantiated. superficial revisionist history available today on the prayer and life of the early Christian Church that supports questionable renewal of liturgy and personal prayer. In contrast, this volume offers solid, objective commentary on the prayer of the first Christians with a wealth of quotations from primary sources.

The beauty of Earthen Vessels is the expansiveness of its focus. We are given a popular presentation hacked by thorough scholarship; yet interwoven with this are some few, but deeply perceptive, comments about our contemporary situation and the state of personal prayer today including some possibilities for renewed practices.

Author Gabriel Bunge, a Benedictine hermit in Switzerland, offers a striking insight in his opening remarks. He points out that we have a swelling abundance of excellent theological and spiritual literature today, which should indicate a flourishing life of faith, yet we are faced with the evaporation of faith in our world today. Bunge suggests, "This flood of books, therefore, is probably rather the sign of the restless search that still somehow does not seem to reach its goal." "There is," he concludes, "a break in tradition; the faith evaporates when it is no longer practiced." He thus tackles the awesome task of conveying this tradition to us, to make some connections.

A further focus in the book, therefore, is a gentle but compelling invitation to return to the roots of apostolic prayer, especially to the nuts and bolts described in three aspects: places and times, ways of prayer and the gestures of prayer.

Numerous threads of apologetics material are also to he found, of particular note, some measured remarks about certain false claims and practices of contemporary New Age proponents. For this alone, the hook is a most valuable resource. Many pseudo-experts claim that the early fathers did "Centering Prayer" yet Bunge's work clearly denies am such thing. No calming ecstasies or transport. are described, only faithful and frequent repetition of the psalms. Nor did the fathers mention repeating a centering word over and over again They might have chosen a short, pertinent scriptural passage to repeat for the day, but the sense of the passage was a source of mindful meditation, not a focal point for emptying the mind.

The reader might shrug and pass off some of the early practices as exaggerated or fanciful, if the author were not so dogged and thorough in his presentation. A case in point is his exposition of the practice of facing the East to pray. The great theologian Origen stated emphatically that "There is no reason that should ever prevent a Christian from turning toward the East to pray!" All churches were built with this orientation and Christians turned to the East to pray their private prayers as well, even if it meant facing a wall and not a sunlit doorway!

Why is this? When a Christian turns to the East, he is turning toward the place of the original creation, the Garden of Eden, the place where man lived in harmony with the Creator. Jesus came to us in the East. St. John Damascene wrote, "When the Lord was crucified, He looked toward the west, and so we worship gazing toward Him (to the East.) And when he was taken up, lie ascended toward the East." Bunge's main point is that we need these physical and symbolic practices today, just as they did long ago, although he stops short of saying so directly.

A similar detailed exposition is given of the reg. ular practice of standing to pray. For those interested in the debate about kneeling or standing during the liturgy and the claims that standing is the apostolic tradition from the early Church, no better resource book could likely be found. Please note: there is no easy answer ... Let us take a moment, turn to the East, and take it all to prayer....