This volume is a first attempt to investigate the impact of urban space on prayers and related religious thought and belief in ancient religions from the first to the sixth century CE. Taking its lead from the spatial turn in scholarship, methodologically it is an attempt to replace the hitherto customary focus on the forms and semantics of prayer with an urban-spatial model. This model understands prayers as performances that are embedded and embodied in urban space as well as texts producing and inspired by imaginations of space. To allow for a broader comparison, this volume covers prayers and spaces of various religions all over the ancient Mediterranean, from Roman and North African polytheisms through early Christianity to Byzantine Christianity and early Islam.

"An ancient spiritual practice for 21st century Grand Rapids" For thousands of years, the Church has gathered during the day to praise God, confess sin, and pray for others and themselves, both in community and individually. Recently, though, commitment to ancient spiritual practices has waned and prayer is considered a waste of time. PRAYERS FOR MY CITY sets out to recapture the power of fixed-hour prayer for 21st century Grand Rapids by helping the Church reconnect to this ancient spiritual practice. Through this highly accessible and simple prayer format, you can engage in this historic Church practice while also praying for Grand Rapids. This prayer book isn't just any prayer book-it's Grand Rapids' prayer book. It's a guide to help you pray for your city with others in one voice, while helping you stay connected to you Creator and Redeemer throughout your day. Pray for your city while finding an oasis in the middle of the chaos of life. Prayer Book Includes: *Three 15-minute daily prayer sessions *Twenty-one unique prayers for Grand Rapids *Prayers from "The Book of Common Prayer" *Historic hymn meditations *Two one-year Bible reading plans

So far religion has been seen as cause for dramatic developments in the history of cities, it has contributed to the monumentalisation of centres and or has given importance to ex-centric places. Very recently, anthropologists have been discovering religion in the contemporary global city. But still awaiting historical investigation is the specific urban character of religious ideas, practices and institutions and the role of urban space shaping this very ‘religion’ in the course of history. The time-span from the Hellenistic age to Late Antiquity was crucial in the establishment of concepts and institutions of ‘religion’ and witnessed extended waves of urbanisation, Rome being central to this. In addressing this problem, this book fills a significant gap in the scholarship on urban religion across time. Taking seriously the proposition that space is condition, medium and outcome of social relations, the development of ‘urban religion’ in lived urban space and urban culture or urbanity offers a lens onto processes of religious change that have been neglected for the history of religion and for the study of urbanism. The key thesis is that city-space engineered the major changes that revolutionised religions. »This stimulating book makes use of archaeology and history to address religion as an essential component of urban life in both the past and the present. -With a strong basis in the ancient Mediterranean as well as an insightful view of modern urban life, Rüpke emphasizes that the practice and performance of religion at the everyday level is as essential in the creation of an urban ethos as the grand temples and institutions promulgated by the elite.« Monica L. Smith, author of Cities: The First 6,000 Years »Jörg Rüpke offers a characteristically original and learned series of reflections on some of the many ways in which the history of religions and the history of cities might be entangled. Urban Religion offers no single overarching thesis, but it is consistently thought-provoking and suggests many intriguing lines of investigation for the future.« Greg Woolf, Institute of Classical Studies, London

The desert will show you what you are and are not made of, what you do and do not need. 'Rachel Srubas Christians are familiar with Matthew's account of Jesus ' temptation in the desert. We are familiar with Jesus ' pithy responses to the devil at the end of those forty days: One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God; Do not put the Lord your God to the test; Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him. But we are likely less familiar with the pithy sayings of those 'the Desert Fathers and Mothers 'whom God led into the desert in surprising numbers throughout the early centuries of the church. In City of Prayer: Forty Days with Desert Christians Rachel Srubas offers readers a collection of reflections inspired by the wisdom of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, the Abbas and Ammas. Through the wisdom of these desert Christians illuminated by Srubas's powerful narrative, readers will ponder such themes as solitude and perseverance, illness and humility. They will be inspired and challenged, comforted and sustained. Neither academic nor pietistic, this book is candid, intelligent, and compelling. Rachel M. Srubas is a Presbyterian clergywoman and oblate of St. Benedict. She is also the author of Oblation: Meditation on St. Benedict's Rule (Paraclete Press), and her writings have appeared inThe Christian Century and Weavings: A Journal of Christian Spiritual Life.

What does it mean to pray without ceasing? Is it really that important to pray as the early Church did? In this installment of The Ancient Practices series, Robert Benson presents a structure for our lives where we can live in continued awareness of God’s presence and reality. A pattern for worship and prayer that is offered to God at specific times throughout the day, the daily office is meant to be prayed by all the faithful so the Church may be continuous and God’s work in this world may be sustained. Yet it is highly personal too—an anchor between the daily and the divine, the mundane and the marvelous. Says author Robert Benson, “At some point, high-minded discussion about our life of prayer has to work its way into the dailyness of our lives. At some point, we have to move from talking about prayer to saying our prayers so that the marvelous that is possible has a chance to appear.” In Constant Prayer is your gateway to deeper communion with God. Expect something new to unfold before you and within you while heeding this ancient call. The Ancient Practices There is a hunger in every human heart for connection, primitive and raw, to God. To satisfy it, many are beginning to explore traditional spiritual disciplines used for centuries . . . everything from fixed-hour prayer to fasting to sincere observance of the Sabbath. Compelling and readable, the Ancient Practices series is for every spiritual sojourner, for every Christian seeker who wants more.

Paying homage to prayer traditions from around the world and throughout history, this celebration of prayer covers everything from Pentacoastalist revivals to the sacred pipe to the Catholic rosary.

DVD includes a dramatized reading of the Lord's Prayer in the original Hebrew by Keith Johnson, and original music video of the Lord's Prayer by Andrew Hodkinson, and an original music video of the Lord's Prayer by Phil Ohst.