Wednesday, June 7, 2017

THE ROOTS OF CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER

PLEASE NOTE: I do not promote the practice of contemplative prayer, and my link the article mentioned is not an endorsement of the practice. I have drawn attention to it in this post in order to warn people about its dangers, and point out some of the errors contained in the article.

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I found a site on the web awhile ago that explains the origins of "contemplative" or "centering prayer" from a Roman Catholic perspective by Joseph G. Sandman, Vice President for Advancement at Loyola University Chicago, where he teaches a workshop on centering prayer in the Institute for Pastoral Studies The article is entitled Centering Prayer: A Treasure for the Soul (—Vatican II called for the revitalization of the path of contemplative prayer).

I find it rather disconcerting that many well-meaning Christians who say they believe that God's Word is the final authority in their life, have failed to understand that this type of prayer is unbiblical and has its roots in the Roman Catholic church, an entity which denies sola scriptura. This particular article acknowledges that the Roman Catholic church, via Vatican II, "called for the revitalization of the path of contemplative prayer". What the article doesn't tell you is the contemplative prayer has its root in Egypt with the "Desert Fathers".

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