Apophatic Prayer
I am looking for some good resources in logos for apophatic prayer. Any recommendations?
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You certainly know how to ask questions without suitable answers. I assume that you are not looking for the original source documents but for secondary documents ... of which there are none that I am aware of that treat it as the primary topic. So I'll give you a quote to put my answer in context (and, no, we don't need to hear objections to the process) and two resources that do touch on what you are seeking:
[quote]Apophatic/Kataphatic contemplation—A misleading distinction suggests an opposition between the two. In fact a proper preparation of the faculties (kataphatic practice) leads to apophatic contemplation, which in turn is sustained through appropriate kataphatic practices.
Apophatic—the exercise of pure faith; resting in God beyond concepts and particular acts, except to maintain a general loving attention to the divine presence.
Kataphatic—the exercise of the rational faculties enlightened by faith: the affective response to symbols, reflection, and the use of reason, imagination, and memory, in order to assimilate the truths of faith.
Thomas Keating, Open Mind, Open Heart: The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel (London; New Delhi; New York; Sydney: Bloomsbury, 2006), 185.This list is ordered from most relevant to prayer to least relevant to prayer:
- Funk, Mary Margaret. Discernment Matters: Listening with the Ear of the Heart. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2013.
- Staniloae, Dumitru. Orthodox Spirituality: A Practical Guide for the Faithful and a Definitive Manual for the Scholar. Translated by Archimandrite Jerome and Otilia Kloos. South Canaan, PA: St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press, 2003.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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I came across the term from the playlist that I had recommended to you on philokalia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s7yONqw0RY&list=PLsxGxLc0QkD5Veejqd33MB2Ais4alI2Zi&index=26&fbclid=IwAR0_5_yrijo3XJARFUvMvE3CVQI5G5MkYTsRRzOPaPO9Wyc4lv779w6dn24
The few resources that seemed to touch on the subject that I had in my library were these"There are two great mystical traditions in the life of prayer, sometimes labeled kataphatic and apophatic. Kataphatic prayer uses icons, symbols, ritual, incense; the creation is the way to the Creator. Apophatic prayer attempts emptiness; the creature distracts from the Creator, and so the mind is systematically emptied of idea, image, sensation until there is only the simplicity of being. Kataphatic prayer is “praying with your eyes open”; apophatic prayer is “praying with your eyes shut.”"
Peterson, Eugene H. The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction. Vol. 17. Carol Stream, IL; Dallas; Waco, TX: Christianity Today; Word Pub., 1989. Print. The Leadership Library.
"A strong mystical strand occurred in the spirituality of the Eastern church arising from the synthesis of Christianity and Neoplatonism. Alexandrian Neoplatonists insisted that the souls of the truly spiritual become lost in God or even fused with God. According to the authority known as Pseudo-Dionysius (c. 500), the threefold mystical way involves (1) purification, (2) illumination, and (3) union with God (henōsis). The goal of the spiritual life was to lose oneself completely in the Absolute or the Abyss. This outcome, achieved only by highly disciplined practitioners of imageless (apophatic) prayer, involved abandonment into the darkness of unknowing, sharing in the divine nature, and deification. This unknown Syrian monk challenged true spiritual seekers as follows: “in the earnest exercise of mystical contemplation, abandon all sensation and all intellectual activities … thus you will unknowingly be elevated, as far as possible, to the unity of that beyond being and knowledge.”"Demarest, Bruce A. The Cross and Salvation: The Doctrine of Salvation. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1997. Print. Foundations of Evangelical Theology.
"Symeon speaks of his religious experiences as visions of divine light, and in this he anticipates the writings of *Gregory Palamas in the fourteenth century. The mystical theology of Palamas was very much a synthesis of Symeon and other Byzantine writers on the nature of hesychast spirituality. Although the ultimate state of contemplative prayer is apophatic and imageless, Symeon mentions having visions of the mother of God and Symeon Eulabes. In his Catechetical Discourses he frequently calls upon his monks to practise repentance and humility. There is a persistent theme of contrition and mourning throughout Symeon’s writings, which draws upon earlier writers such as John Climacus and Isaac of Nineveh. He seems personally to have known the gift of tears, and in his statements on compunction (penthos) he claims that Christians should never receive communion without tears."Parry, Ken. “Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022).” The dictionary of historical theology 2000 : 534. Print.
I am assuming there is no particular work that has dealt solely with the subject but just mentioned here and there. Being that I am new to the subject I thought I would ask rather than assume0 -
In that broader context than I was considering, Rosie suggested Two-volume set "On What Cannot Be Said: Apophatic Discourses in Philosophy, Religion, Literature, and the Arts"
and fundamentals (not prayer):
- Palamas, Gregory. Gregory Palamas: The Triads. Edited by Richard J. Payne and John Meyendorff. Translated by Nicholas Gendle. The Classics of Western Spirituality. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1983.
- Bulgakov, Sergius. Icons and the Name of God. Translated by Boris Jakim. Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012.
- Pseudo-Dionysius. Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works. Edited by John Farina. Translated by Colm Luibheid and Paul Rorem. The Classics of Western Spirituality. New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1987.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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Blair Laird said:
I am looking for some good resources in logos for apophatic prayer. Any recommendations?
Searching for resources on contemplative prayer might get you in the right direction.
- Books by Fr. Thomas Keating, especially:
- Invitation to Love: The Way of Christian Contemplation
- Open Mind, Open Heart: The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel
- Active Meditations for Contemplative Prayer
- Finding Grace at the Center: The Beginning of Centering Prayer (with M. Basil Pennington) (I have this in Logos edition, but it doesn't seem to be available anymore)
Other books on the apophatic way of prayer:
- The Cloud of Unknowing by Anonymous
- Embracing Contemplation: Reclaiming a Christian Spiritual Practice, edited by John H. Coe and Kyle C. Strobel
- Beginning Contemplative Prayer: Out of Chaos into Quiet by Kathryn J. Hermes
- When the Soul Listens: Finding Rest and Direction in Contemplative Prayer by Jan Johnson
- Prayer: A Guide for the Perplexed has a chapter (Ch. 1) on Evagrius of Ponticus, who was a leading proponent of apophatic prayer.
- John Cassian: The Conferences, particularly Conference X, Chapter X "An instruction in unceasing prayer."
- The Way of a Pilgrim: The Jesus Prayer Journey Annotated & Explained (the "Jesus Prayer" in the Eastern tradition is another form of unceasing prayer and is more apophatic than kataphatic)
That's just a start. There's a lot in my library.
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Thanks Rosie. I looked up the first link and noticed one of the comments mentioned Rcc speaks against apophatic prayer? Did I misunderstand?
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Ignore the comment that refers to very conservative, rule-bound and not terribly traditional Catholic sources ... I think of it as Catholicism with blinders. The American version of this left an Argentinian Catholic religion teacher friend wondering if Americans were really Catholic [:O] Father Keating is, in fact, very orthodox. Reading the various books of Bernard McGinn on mysticism in the church would leave you absolutely certain on this point. (He'd also fill you in on a chunk of apophatic theology history).
Catholics tend not to share the internal divisions within the family - the ultraliberal, the ultraconservative, and the ultraecumenical - all of which are quite capable of spreading misinformation with the best of intentions. I loved the Sunday when the newspaper reported that priest NNN had been asked by the Vatican to take a 6 month break for reflection. When I mentioned it to a priest in the same order, he gave me a very strange look and said "I didn't know he was still Catholic". [;)]
P.S. I approve of Rosie's list - all excellent. She uses a bit broader definition of apophatic prayer than I do but I wouldn't dispute her definition.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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Blair Laird said:
Thanks Rosie. I looked up the first link and noticed one of the comments mentioned Rcc speaks against apophatic prayer? Did I misunderstand?
There also are a lot of Protestants who speak against anything mystical -- contemplative prayer, "centering prayer", etc. Father Keating and others are considered by them to be dangerous, deceptive, heretics, a gateway to eastern-style meditation which they consider to be anti-gospel, and more. They probably don't even know the word "apophatic" but would be suspicious of it from the get-go because of that.
Just because you can find someone that speaks against a particular spiritual discipline or practice doesn't mean you should avoid it. There are detractors for just about everything. Learn to pay attention to the inner tugs that you're feeling from the Holy Spirit towards exploring a particular practice for your own spiritual life. If it brings you a sense of drawing closer to God, then it's probably right for you. If it makes you feel more distant from God, then it's probably not.
EDIT: Here's a good answer to the Protestant naysayers who are fearful of contemplative prayer:
https://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/article/protestant-barriers-contemplative-prayer
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Rosie Perera said:
There also are a lot of Protestants who speak against anything mystical
I have discovered over the years that many of these have an incorrect understanding of what "mystical" means. They are right to oppose what they are opposing but wrong in thinking it has anything to do with mysticism.
Rosie Perera said:
EDIT: Here's a good answer to the Protestant naysayers who are fearful of contemplative prayer:
https://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/article/protestant-barriers-contemplative-prayer
Thanks Rosie. After reading that I did a Google search and found this which may also be helpful:
not what I was looking for but interesting nonetheless.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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MJ. Smith said:
After reading that I did a Google search and found this which may also be helpful:
Excellent. The Imago Dei community is very familiar to me. It was founded by a friend of mine, Rob Des Cotes, who passed away in 2016.
Contemplative prayer is also sometimes called "listening prayer" (since it is frequently done without words, just paying attention). There's more info on various forms of it here (the main article was written by someone else I know, Jeff Imbach, co-founder of SoulStream, in BC):
https://selahcenter.org/practices/
Strictly speaking, apophatic prayer means "imageless prayer" and it comes from Evagrius Ponticus. But in my understanding, the apophatic tradition is that which considers much about God to be unknowable, mysterious. We can still know God through relationship and direct experience of him. But this way is less focused on factual details about God (that he's all-powerful, all-knowing, like a father, like a shepherd, etc.) and more focused on the "beyond human understanding" aspects of him: immeasurable, boundless, from everlasting to everlasting,
The best book on all of this that I've ever read (unfortunately not available in Logos, though I made myself a PB by scanning the old 1st edition paperback that I own) was
The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition: From Plato to Denys by Andrew Louth
The new edition is available in Kindle format.
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Thanks.. I took the plunge on the Keating set.. appreciate the help on this one
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