For God Alone: A Primer on Prayer

Bonnie Thurston is the author of many books and articles about spirituality and prayer. In For God Aloneshe shows us, clearly and practically, how to pray. The result is a unique introduction to prayer that will encourage all Christian readers seeking to deepen the life of prayer.

For God Aloneintroduces three traditional trajectories of Christian prayer: oratio, meditatio, and contemplatio. Thruston guides the reader from familiar “voiced prayers” through the prayer of thought and intellect to the less familiar prayer of quiet or listening. Thurston concludes each chapter with practical exercises for the practice of prayer, suggestions for further reading, and space for reader’s notes. Drawing material from both Eastern and Western traditions, For God Aloneis learned but conversational in tone and thoroughly accessible to the general reader. Adult education classes in various denominations will profit from reading this book. It will also be used in practical ministries courses, spirituality courses, and courses in the theology and practice of prayer.

“From the Bible to Buddha, Bonnie Thurston probes deeply into the theology and practice of prayer, with particular weight on the latter. I doubt if any reader can put the book down without finding himself or herself thinking about prayer in new and surprising ways.” —Patrick D. Miller, Princeton Theological Seminary

“Bonnie Thurston is an accomplished scholar and teacher as well as a profound person of prayer and Christian witness. In this volume she wears her considerable learning lightly, such that the witness of her own practice comes through both lucidly and with quiet passion.” —Lawrence S. Cunningham, O'Brien Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame