The Prayer Wheel

     BOOK REVIEW:   The Prayer Wheel invites you into the rich world of faith illustrated by a stunning medieval artifact that resurfaced in 2015 in a small art gallery near New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The seven paths of the twelfth-century Liesborn Wheel, arranged in a circle around the word Deus (God), lead believers---now as in times past---to encounter and apply the transforming truths of the Christian faith. The book you're holding tells the remarkable story of the wheel, guides you through its teachings, then provides beautiful, contemporary prayers for personal or group use. As you pray, you will discover new ways to speak to God about your everyday concerns and deepest longings, and find your faith powerfully refreshed. 

     MY REVIEW:   When I got this book, I expected it to be about the prayer wheel. I was looking forward to hearing how it got started, then how on earth it got completely lost, and finally, how it was rediscovered. But alas, the book actually is the prayer wheel. There is a brief introduction that explained a few things on its invention, loss, and rediscovery, but then the rest of the book is actually praying the paths of the wheel, once a day for seven weeks.
     Despite that disappointment, I did enjoy the book. I've never heard of the prayer wheel before, and it intrigued me a bit. Patton Dodd, Jana Reiss, and David van Biema co-authored it, and they did a wonderful job. Something like this could very easily become idolized, and worshiped, and God taken completely out of it. But they seem to have done a careful job to keep that out. This is simply a guide to prayer. It's not something I'm really comfortable praying through as they suggest, but just to read through it, there are many truths to behold.
    The book itself is beautiful---hardcover, about 6 x 8, and 200 pages long. There is one spread to a day, seven spreads to a week. Each day is portrayed as a chapter, and each week a section. At the  beginning of each section the prayer wheel is illustrated, with that week's path highlighted. It is all very simply and easily laid out. Each day has a brief blurb on that subject on one side and a prayer on the other.

   I received a copy of this book from BLOGGING FOR BOOKS and was not required to write a positive review.