New Book Release on June 12th!  04/17/2018

David, who according to Biblical tradition wrote the Psalms, was a shepherd. Moses who inspired the first five books of the Bible spent much of his life as a shepherd. Samuel, Samson, and John the Baptist were ascetics.

The great prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures, Elijah and Elisha, were reclusive and mysterious. Other prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures, such as Isaiah and Hosea, likewise seem to have had monastic, or at least deeply ascetic, leanings. The Greek Testament tells us that Jesus “often withdrew to lonely places and prayed,” sometimes prayed all night, and “fasted in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights” (see Lk. 5:166:12) Most of the scribes who copied the scriptures by hand for centuries were monastic.[i]

In other words, they were all people accustomed to spending successive days and hours of solitude steeped in silence. This was their context. This is what I call the inherent mysticism of the Bible. Many of the people who wrote and inspired the Bible were steeped in silence and stillness. This is the premise of my next book, Be Still and Listen: Experience the Presence of God in Your Life.


[i] One of the primary employs of the monks at Qumran was hand copying Hebrew Scriptures (see studies on Qumran). One of the primary undertakings of the monks in Ireland from Saint Patrick on was hand copying the Bible (see How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill).

 

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Be Still and Listen by Amos Smith is now available at Contemplative Life Bookstore.

Welcome to Contemplative-Life.org. Our mission is to present the best of contemplative teachings. Through contemplative awareness, one becomes open and present to the mystery of God in the here and now—in the midst of daily life.

Amazon is offering the kindle version of Be Still and Listen for $6.99.

Also by Amos Smith, Healing the Divide: Recovering Christianity’s Mystic Roots

The Way of the Wisdom Jesus: Going Beyond the Mind to the Heart of His Teaching – If you put aside what you think you know about Jesus and approach the Gospels as though for the first time, something remarkable happens: Jesus emerges as a teacher of the transformation of consciousness. In this online course, Episcopal priest, teacher, and retreat and conference leader Cynthia Bourgeault serves as a masterful guide to Jesus’s vision and to the traditional contemplative practices you can use to experience the heart of his teaching for yourself.  Based upon her book the Wisdom Jesus.

Prayer is a core Christian practice, but for many, this means “saying prayers” or asking God for various favors. In this course, we will review a variety of methods of prayer that have been used for centuries in Christianity. Whether you’re a beginner who is just learning how to pray, or a more mature Christian who has been at it awhile, this course will offer specific guidance, encouragement and support for practicing several time-tested methods of prayer.  Enjoy a review of this course by Rich.

Simply Good News is a short course based on Prof. N.T. Wright’s latest book, Simply Good News. Tom Wright will guide you through the chapters of his book through videos that suggest what some of the main points are. You will instantly get into the heart of the idea of ‘good news’ as it was understood by the 1st Century writers of the New Testament. You will be brought into their world in order to make more sense of what ‘good news’ means in our world.

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