by Larry Peacock
Skylight Paths, Woodstock, Vt. 418 pages
Is this an encyclopedia or a prayerbook? Is this a book of prayer strategies or a set of meditations to ponder? A history of the saints? The answer is the book is all of these in one very large compendium of prayers, Scriptures, sayings and biographical notes on historical persons. I enjoy it in the same way I enjoy the Writer’s Almanac: it has a daily entry of an historical person accompanied by a Psalm and a paragraph to ponder and a prayer. One will learn a great deal by simply following this entries of this book, but more importantly one’s life will be significantly enriched by the daily practice of these prayers that accompany the meditations. We live in a time when history is neglected and historical figures are forgotten. For that reason alone, this book should be on the shelves of church libraries and pastors’ studies. From Barnabas to Anne Frank, from Julian of Norwich to Albert Luthuli, one will get a grasp of the great range of people worthy to remember and emulate.
