» Christianity Today: Prayer and the Cross (Lauren Winner)

I'm not sure I can do Philip Yancey justice by reviewing his latest book any better than Lauren Winner does over at Christianity Today. After all, it's difficult to top praise like this:

Once upon a time I thought that my devotion to reading about prayer was a mark of my spiritual advancement. Eventually I came to realize my mistake: in fact, I love books on prayer not because I am uniquely prayerful, but because it is far, far easier to read about prayer than to actually pray. It is the rare book about prayer that, rather than inadvertently distracting me from the pursuit of a praying life, actually prompts me to pray. Yancey's Prayer is one such book, and I am grateful for it.

At a minimum, I'd have to second that conclusion. Yancey doesn't write an authoritative book on prayer designed to more thoroughly educate so much as he writes freely of his own struggles as a means to illuminate. That's precisely what's so refreshing about it. Check the linkage for the rest of the review.