Exodus 20 – The Ten “Words” or Commandments:  Schocken points out that they are unusual in that no penalties are attached for breaking them as in the more detailed regulations.  They are the framework against which the more detailed infractions can be understood.  The order differs for Jews as it does for Catholics and Protestants.  The following is the Jewish division:

Tablet 1

• I am YHWH “who brought you out from the land of Egypt. .…

The Method of the Guide

The ‘Guide to True Peace’ offers a simple method of prayer, referred to as the prayer of inward silence.  The method is stated in Chapter 1:

“We must retire from all outward objects, and silence all the desires and wandering imaginations of the mind; that in this profound silence of the whole soul, we may hearken to the ineffable voice of the Divine Teacher.  We must listen with an attentive ear; for it is a still, small voice.  It is…

A Brief History of ‘A Guide to True Peace’

Dear Friends:

What follows is a brief textual history of the Quaker contemplative work, “A Guide to True Peace”.

The work is based on the works of three continental Quietists; Madam Guyon, Archbishop Fenelon, Miguel Molinos.  The ‘Guide’ weaves together passages from these authors’ works.  Primary sources include “A Short Method of Prayer” by Guyon, “The Spiritual Guide” by Molinos, and “Maxims of the…

The Bible in the ‘Guide’

The presence of the Bible in the Quaker work ‘A Guide to True Peace’ is pervasive.  This is in keeping with traditional Quaker writings.  The Bible is used in the ‘Guide’ as a proof text, meaning that the point of view that the ‘Guide’ presents is placed in a biblical context and supported by numerous biblical quotations.

There are 102 quotes from the Bible in a work that is roughly 80 pages (the number of pages varies somewhat…

Tobit is not in the Protestant Bible; it is part of what is called the “apocrypha.” My Jerusalem Bible introduction to the books says they were “only recognized by the Church after a certain hesitancy in the patristic period” but they have been “read and quoted from early days and appear in the official canonical lists in the West from the time of the Roman Synod of 382 and, in the East, from 682” (601). All three “belong to the same type of literature”; they all deal with…

Sticking to a fairly demanding schedule of scripture readings can seem a bit challenging. I am trying to stick to a schedule that has worked for me over the years since I discovered it. It was first published in 1952 and is published by the Liturgical Press of St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. I am not a scripture literalist, but I have found over the years that the advice given by the "cloud of witnesses" that have gone before us - from the earliest years to the present day - is…

The Heresy of Silence

Recently I was looking at a Protestant website because it had some articles on the Bible Version Issue that I am interested in.  I noticed that the site also has articles on other topics.  One of the articles was about the heresy of silent prayer.  The site referred to silent prayer as a ‘Roman Catholic’ practice that good Protestants should not indulge in.

I found this interesting because silent prayer, or more accurately the prayer of…

I was walking the dog today and processed a lot of this Plain thing that has been going on. I realize by just saying, “I think I’ve figured it out” that I have not indeed figured anything out for any length of time. So here’s what I have so far.…