Basil Pennington —Another Contemplative
Ray
Yungen speaks
on Thomas Keating and Basil Pennington:
"In
the book Finding Grace at the Center, written by
these two Catholic monks, the following advice is given:
'We should not hesitate to take the fruit of the age-old
wisdom of the East and capture it for Christ. Indeed,
those of us who are in ministry should make the necessary
effort to acquaint ourselves with as many of these Eastern
techniques as possible ... Many Christians who take their
prayer life seriously have been greatly helped by Yoga,
Zen, TM and similar practices ..." Thomas Keating
and Basil Pennington have taken their Christianity and
blended it with Eastern mysticism through a contemplative
method they call centering prayer. I met a woman who once
enthusiastically told me that in her church "we use
a mantra to get in touch with God." She was referring
to centering prayer ... Keating and Pennington have both
authored a number of influential books on contemplative
prayer thus advancing this movement greatly. Pennington
essentially wrote a treatise on the subject called Centering
Prayer while Keating has written the popular and influential
classic, Open Mind, Open Heart, and both are major evangelists
for contemplative prayer.
Study with Caution -
These Sites are Pro-Contemplative Thus Anti Gospel.Contemplative Outreach on Basil Pennington
It is my sense, from having meditated with persons from many different [non-Christian] traditions, that in the silence we experience a deep unity. When we go beyond the portals of the rational mind into the experience, there is only one God to be experienced.—Basil Pennington (Centered Living, p. 192)
