To Call on His Name: Perspectives on the Jesus Prayer
Ebook
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
This comprehensive introduction to the Jesus Prayer provides an overview of an ancient mystical prayer practice from the Christian East. The book considers multiple dimensions, including the historical development of the prayer and its basis in scripture, patristic spirituality, theology, and psychology. John Gill provides a unique comparison of the prayer with the prayer practices of the West, demonstrating various similarities and differences.
The book also discusses the interactions between Eastern traditions of yoga and meditation and Christian prayer practices. Having developed within the heart of the Christian tradition, the Jesus Prayer effectively avoids the potential criticisms sometimes directed against practices that incorporate methods derived from non-Christian Eastern sources. A personal prayer expressing fundamental Christian faith, it is therefore a prayer which can hold universal appeal to Christians of all denominations.
The book has a strong practical focus, including recommendations to assist beginners and suggestions for further reading as well as presenting the teachings of various Eastern Orthodox spiritual authorities.
Modestly sub-titled ‘Perspectives on the Jesus Prayer’ this dense little book is in fact a miniature history of Christian spirituality. Beginning with the desert Fathers and Mothers, Gill discusses the development of prayer techniques from the earliest times to the present day while at the same time discussing possible connections with non-Christian meditation traditions. There is an interesting chapter comparing the origins of the Jesus prayer with the psychophysical hesychastic practices derived from Hindu yoga via Sufism, the mystical tradition within Islam. Western monastic traditions including the Cloud of Unknowing are discussed, as well as Carmelite and Jesuit practice; even the Marian Rosary of the Roman Catholic church is compared and contrasted with the Jesus Prayer in helpful and illuminating ways. The 20th century western interest in Christian Meditation and Centering Prayer are also contrasted with the eastern Orthodox use of the Jesus Prayer and found to be lacking a truly Christological focus. This book would be a mine of information for anyone interested in exploring a new form of prayer and there is an extensive bibliography of more academic studies in the Orthodox prayer tradition.
- Title: To Call on His Name: Perspectives on the Jesus Prayer
- Author: John Gill
- Publisher: Sacristy Press
- Print Publication Date: 2019
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781789590722, 9781789590708, 1789590701, 9781789590715, 178959071X, 1789590728
- Resource ID: LLS:9781789590722
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-12-26T08:08:24Z
John Gill (1697–1771) was born in Kettering, Northamptonshire. He became a Baptist clergyman, a biblical scholar, and a staunch Calvinist. Gill was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Aberdeen in 1748. Gill pastored at Benjamin Keach’s former church, New Park Street Chapel. Later, he pastored what would become Charles Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle for 51 years.
Gill is the first major Baptist theologian writer. His stance on Calvinism is somewhat a matter of debate. Some say Gill would not describe himself as hyper-Calvinist, while others contend that he indeed was.
Some of Gill’s most important academic works are The Doctrine of the Trinity Stated and Vindicated, The Cause of God and Truth, and A Body of Doctrinal Divinity, all of which appear in The Works of John Gill (19 vols.).