{"id":9010,"date":"2014-11-05T12:51:29","date_gmt":"2014-11-05T16:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?p=9010"},"modified":"2014-11-05T12:51:29","modified_gmt":"2014-11-05T16:51:29","slug":"ballroom-dancing-men-made-of-honey-and-other-things-prayer-is-like-leah-librescos-book-is-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2014\/11\/ballroom-dancing-men-made-of-honey-and-other-things-prayer-is-like-leah-librescos-book-is-coming.html","title":{"rendered":"Ballroom Dancing, Men Made of Honey, And Other Things Prayer Is Like: Leah Libresco’s Book Is Coming!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I love this book, y\u2019all. Go pre-order it! Here\u2019s her description of Arriving at Amen<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Being a convert and learning to pray is a little bit like studying a foreign language.<\/p>\n

The trouble is that it\u2019s a\u00a0lot<\/em>\u00a0like studying a foreign language\u00a0in<\/em>\u00a0the new language.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to even pose a question, when you\u2019re relying on what feels like a pidgin-level of prayer fluency. \u00a0So, I wound up cobbling together a creole as best I could, building up my understanding of spiritual life using the tools and analogies that I already had.<\/p>\n

I thought about the way that subroutines are nested safely in bigger tasks in computer programming as I tried to figure out how to wrap the Liturgy of the Hours around my hectic, day-to-day life. \u00a0I relied on my understanding of cognitive biases like the sunk cost fallacy when I tried to figure out what made it hard to go to Confession. \u00a0And, when all else failed, I tended to crib little prayers from the exasperated exclamations of Shakespeare\u2019s plays.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Arriving at Amen<\/a><\/em><\/span>, I discuss the seven Catholic spiritual practices that have shaped my prayer life (Petitionary prayer, Confession, the Examen, the Rosary, Divine Office,\u00a0Lectio divina<\/em>, and Mass) and the math, musicals, and medical oddities that helped me find my way into these practices.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not Catholic or not practicing, I hope the analogies and connections that helped me might make Catholicism make a bit more aesthetic and logical sense. \u00a0(Or at least, make it\u00a0differently<\/em>\u00a0confusing).<\/p>\n

And, if you\u00a0are<\/em>\u00a0Catholic, I hope that the beauty that led me \u201cfurther up and further in\u201d to the church will help to set alight your own prayers and your delight in the way that everything beautiful, good, and true is a signpost on the way to God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love this book, y\u2019all. Go pre-order it! Here\u2019s her description of Arriving at Amen: Being a convert and learning to pray is a little bit like studying a foreign language. The trouble is that it\u2019s a\u00a0lot\u00a0like studying a foreign language\u00a0in\u00a0the new language. It\u2019s hard to even pose a question, when you\u2019re relying on what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[94,14,30],"class_list":["post-9010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mackerel-snapping","tag-awesome","tag-leah-libresco","tag-mackerel-snapping-2"],"yoast_head":"\nBallroom Dancing, Men Made of Honey, And Other Things Prayer Is Like: Leah Libresco's Book Is Coming!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I love this book, y'all. Go pre-order it! 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