Cole offers insights on the topic of prayer, explaining prayer and describing its spiritual and physical effects. This book is for those who are not comfortable with prayer or who have reached an impasse in their prayer lives. Cole demonstrates different kinds of prayer, helps the reader find ways to pray in various situations, and provides sample prayers. The volume includes questions for reflection at the end of each chapter.
This is arguably the most complete tutorial on the basics of Christian prayer that I have ever seen. In addition to being thorough in its treatment, the Life of Prayer is also an enabling and gentle invitation into exactly what its title names: a life of prayer.
--Phyllis Tickle, author of Prayer is a Place and The Divine Hours
Allan Cole has written a practical, discerning book on prayer that exhibits immense pastoral sensitivity. He recognizes the problems and misconceptions concerning prayer in contemporary setting and then, in quite accessible ways, invites a practice of prayer that focuses upon discipline, gratitude, wonder, and obedience. The depth of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Karl Barth stream through these pages, but the accent is upon real people at prayer. The book challenges and reassures, and offers prayer as a "habit" that permits a very different way of life.
--Walter Brueggemann, author of Great Prayers of the Old Testament
