Deepening Our Practice – Centering Prayer Bibliography of Resources

Bibliography of Resources to Support Your Practice:  includes books on Centering Prayer, Lectio Divina, Enneagram, Spiritual Literature, and Spiritual Biographies.

Centering Prayer

• Keating, Fr. Thomas. Open Mind, Open Heart: The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel. Twentieth Anniversary Edition. New York: 2007.   ***Note: Read this book first. In fact, read it several times. It is the modern handbook of Centering Prayer and a true companion on the journey. It will answer many of your questions about the practice, especially as a beginner.
• Bourgeault, Cynthia. Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening. Lanham: 2004.    ***Note: Cynthia is an Episcopal priest who has led many retreats on Centering Prayer. Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening is intended to be a complete guidebook for all who wish to know the practice better.
• Bourgeault, Cynthia. The Heart of Centering Prayer: Nondual Christianity in Theory and Practice. Shambhala, Boulder: 2016
• Pennington, Fr. Basil. Centering Prayer: Renewing an Ancient Prayer Form. New York: 2001.    **Note: Fr. Basil Pennington is one of the founders of the modern method of contemplation and coined the phrase, “Centering Prayer”.
• Unknown Author. The Cloud of Unknowing. Introductory Commentary and Translation by Ira Progoff. Dell Publishing Group, Inc., New York, New York 1951.    ***After you have established a practice in Centering Prayer for a few years you may want to read and study this classic work to deepen your practice. Written by an anonymous English Monk in the 14^th Century who lays out a method of contemplation which is called, “Centering Prayer” today.

Spiritual

• Keating, Fr. Thomas. Invitation to Love: The Way of Christian Contemplation. Twentieth Anniversary Edition. Bloomsbury, London: 2011
• Rohr, Richard.  The Universal Christ. How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, And Believe.  Convergent, New York: 2019
• Red Hawk. Self Observation: The Awakening of Conscience – A Owner’s Manual.  Hohm Press, Chino Valley, Arizona: 2009
• Needleman Jacob. What is God? Penguin Group, New York: 2011
• Bourgeault, Cynthia. The Wisdom Way of Knowing: Reclaiming an Ancient Tradition to Awaken the Heart. Josey-Bass, San Francisco: 2003
• Keating, Thomas. The Daily Reader for Contemplative Living: Excerpts from the Works of Father Thomas Keating. Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., New York, NY: 2006/2009.

Enneagram

• Chestnut, Beatrice, PhD. The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge. She Writes Press, Berkeley, CA: 2013
• Riso, Don and Hudson, Russ. The Wisdom of the Enneagram:  The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types. A Bantam Book/June 1999

Spiritual Biographies

• King, Ursula.  Spirit of Fire:  The Life and Vision of Teilhard de Chardin. Orbis Books, Maryknow, New York: 1996/ 2005.
• Starr, Mirabai. The Interior Castle: St. Teresa of Avila. Riverhead Books, New York, New York: 2004

Lectio Divina

• Hall, Thelma.  Too Deep for Words:  Rediscovering Lectio Divina. (With 100 Scripture Texts for Prayer).  Paulist Press, Mahwah, 1988.  Retrieves from obscurity the lost art of contemplative prayer as practiced for sixteen centuries in monastic tradition, and provides 500 thematically arranged scripture texts as rich resources for this intimate prayer.
• Casey, Michael.  Sacred Reading:  The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina. Liguori/Triumph, Liguori, 1996.  Examines the Western tradition of lectio divina (a spiritual and prayerful approach to reading the sacred texts) in order to help readers expand their spiritual approach to living.
• Robertson, Duncan.  Lectio Divina:  The Medieval Experience of Reading (Cistercian Studies Book).  Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, 2011.   During the Middle Ages the act of reading was experienced intensively in the monastic exercise of lectio divina ‘the prayerful scrutiny of passages of Scripture, savored in meditation, memorized, recited, and rediscovered in the reader’s own religious life. The rich literary tradition that arose from this culture includes theoretical writings from the Conferences of John Cassian (fifth century) through the twelfth-century treatises of Hugh of St. Victor and the Carthusian Guigo II; it also includes compilations, literary meditations, and scriptural commentary, notably on the Song of Songs. This study brings medievalist research together with modern theoretical reflections on the act of reading in a consolidation of historical scholarship, spirituality, and literary criticism.