Uncommon Prayer – Prayer in Everyday Experience Paperback - 2016

"Uncommon Prayer indeed! Only theologians as steeped in the mystical tradition of the Orthodox Church as Michael Plekon can write with theological depth and spiritual insight on how to pray uncommonly in common experiences of life. Whether you are a theologian, a hermit, a poet, a person going through the darkness of the soul, a teacher, or, listen to this, a pirogi-making cook--there is a prayer for you. This book is a gem of spirituality, and I wish that every believer and even nonbeliever can have the blessing of reading it or, better, praying with it." --Peter C. Phan, Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought, Georgetown University

"A skilled teacher and guide, Michael Plekon leads readers into the experience of lived prayer with the depth of a scholar and the wisdom of a seeker. Plekon's book brilliantly moves beyond the valuable yet limited tradition of academic studies on prayer to present us with a new and compelling look at the rich diversity of approaches toward increased awareness of and communication with the divine. Accompanied by poets and authors, pastors and ministers, theologians and preachers alike, Plekon lucidly helps to renew the scholarly and practical definition of prayer. Regardless of what prior views about prayer and praxis one brings to this text, Uncommon Prayer invites all readers to expand the horizon of their experience and risk an extraordinary encounter of the divine in everyday life." --Daniel P. Horan, OFM, author of The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton

"Many books on prayer, even for a more academic audience, are rather thin on contemporary authors. This book does a fine job of looking carefully at a number of important, contemporary theologians (in a broad sense of this term) who write on this topic. This should be an important book for scholars, students, and thoughtful readers in the field of spirituality and spiritual theology. I think that many scholars and students in the various pastoral and practical theological disciplines would find it interesting and worth reading." --Alan G. Padgett, Luther Seminary

Michael Plekon is professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and in the Program in Religion and Culture at Baruch College of the City University of New York. He is also an ordained priest in the Orthodox Church in America and the author or editor of a number of books, including Hidden Holiness and Saints As They Really Are: Voices of Holiness in Our Time, both published by the University of Notre Dame Press.