The Practice of the Presence of God ─ Theology As a Way of Life

Exploring the unity of the practice of prayer and the practice of theology, this book draws together insights from world-class theologians including Rowan Williams, Andrew Louth, Frances Young, Martin Laird, Luigi Gioia, Margaret R. Miles, Enzo Bianchi, Sebastian Brock, and Nikolaï Sakharov. Offering glimpses of the prayer-life and witness that undergirds theological endeavour, some authors approach the topic in a deeply personal way while others express the unity of prayer and the theologian in a traditionally scholarly manner. No matter what the denomination of the Christian theologian - Greek or Russian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist - authors demonstrate that the discipline of theology cannot properly be practiced apart from the prayer life of the theologian. The prayer of the theologian shapes her or his approach to theology. Whether it be preaching, teaching, writing or research, the deep soundings of prayer informs and embraces all.

Martin Laird, O.S.A., is Professor of Early Christian Studies in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University (USA). His publications include Gregory of Nyssa and the Grasp of Faith; Into the Silent Land; A Sunlit Absence; and An Ocean of Light: Contemplation and the Ethics of Silence (forthcoming from Oxford University Press).

Sheelah Trefle Hidden is a Research Associate with the Heythrop Institute Religion and Society at Heythrop College, University of London. Her main interests are Christian and Islamic Mysticism as well as the Mimetic Theory of Rene Girard. She is editor of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Mystical Perspectives on the Love of God, and contributing editor to The Handbook of Mimetic Theory.