The Joy of the Gospel: Meditations for Young People.

What most interests me about Martini's book is not so much his biblical reflections although they are carefully rendered and sophisticated readings of the texts in question) but the method he proposes for reading the Scriptures in the church. In an interesting introductory chapter, Martini notes that there is an old monastic tradition of reading the Scriptures sapientially (the so-called lectio divina). A medieval Carthusian, Guigo II, wrote that reading should lead to meditation which energizes prayer and leads to contemplation. To those four stages, Martini says one should also add the experience of consolation and discretion which triggers, in turn, deliberation and, finally, action.

Obviously, these "stages" are not followed in any lock-step fashion. The point that Martini urges is that the prayerfully contemplative reading of Scripture should urge us to both personal and social action. Those conversant with the history of spirituality will immediately recognize that what Martini has done (true to his own Ignatian heritage) is to marry the old monastic lectio to the Jesuit notion that a person should be a "contemplative in action." Even Martini's custom of ending his conferences with points for further consideration and prayer reveal s the influence of Ignatius's Exercises.

Properly understood, Martini's approach might prove helpful both for individuals and groups. Both in his method and in his reflections on the Scriptures, he brings forth, like the good householder of the Gospel, old things and new.

Miller's book is an exhaustive taxonomy of the diverse prayer forms found in the Bible. As a professor of Old Testament he is more at home in that part of the Bible but does provide us with a substantial chapter on the further "witness of the New Testament." His notes reflect a command of the scholarly sources but his intended audience is not scholars.

Miller goes through the Bible, sorting out the various kinds of prayers, providing, with each type of prayer, copious examples from the biblical text. In passing, he also discusses times of prayer, gestures of prayer, distinctions between public and private prayer, liturgy and devotion, etc. To contextualize his discussion, he has some nice pages on other forms and acts of prayer from the cultural milieu in which the ancient Israelites found themselves.