To Dare the Our Father: A Transformative Spiritual Practice

by John Shea

The Lord’s Prayer accompanies the lives of Christians. When we are happy or sad, when we eagerly wait for a child to be born or silently keep watch as an elder dies, alone in the woods or together in liturgy, filled with gratitude or emptied by grief, driven to praise or dragged to repent, the Our Father finds its way to our lips. To Dare the Our Father recognizes and respects these experiences but it envisions praying the prayer as a more sustained and challenging undertaking. How does praying the Our Father inform our thinking, feeling, willing, and acting? How does it become for us a transformative spiritual practice? John Shea explores these questions and more to discover what it looks like to become people of prayer.

184 pages, Paperback

Published January 22, 2018

About the author

John (Jack) Shea is a theologian and storyteller who lectures nationally and internationally on storytelling in world religions, faith-based health care, contemporary spirituality, and the spirit at work movement. Formerly, he was a professor of systematic theology and the Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program at the University of St. Mary of the Lake, a research professor at the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University of Chicago, and the Advocate Healthcare Senior Scholar in Residence at the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith and Ethics. He has also taught at the University of Notre Dame and Boston College. He has published thirteen books of theology and spirituality and two books of poetry.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book more when I was not under a deadline to catch up for a book discussion. I read it in smaller amounts and really took the time to understand what the author was trying to convey and understand how I might incorporate it into my life. It almost became a reflection reading, which was a great way to start the day. I will keep this book to re-read and practice how saying the "Our Father" could be a transformative process for me in daily living.