Inwardly Digest: The Prayer Book as Guide to a Spiritual Life

Have you ever wondered if there was some kind of guide to living a deeper, richer spiritual life that seamlessly incorporated scripture alongside the wisdom of the Church? There is--and you can find it in a pew rack near you! The Book of Common Prayer is more than a service book; it is a map to a deeper relationship with God, a framework for developing a more intentional and rewarding life of faith.

Scholar Derek Olsen explores liturgical spirituality and how the prayer book serves as a repository of Christian wisdom and spiritual practice stretching back to the beginnings of the Christian movement. Focusing on three key elements--the Calendar, the Daily Office, and the Eucharist--he discusses the spiritual principles behind them and provides clear, practical, easy-to-follow explanations of the services. These patterns of life laid out in The Book of Common Prayer serve as a guide to the spiritual life, so that we might connect back to the God who calls each of us by name and that we might love as God loves us.

Derek Olsen is a biblical scholar and engaged layman in the Episcopal Church. He earned an M.Div. from Emory University's Candler School of Theology, an S.T.M. from Trinity Lutheran Seminary, and served as pastoral vicar of a large Lutheran (ELCA) church in the Atlanta suburbs before beginning doctoral work (and being received into the Episcopal Church). He completed a Ph.D. in New Testament in 2011 from Emory University under the direction of Luke Timothy Johnson. His chief areas of interest are in the intersection between Scripture and liturgy, the history of biblical interpretation--particularly in the Church Fathers and the Early Medieval West--and liturgical spirituality. He lives in Baltimore, MD with his wife, an Episcopal priest, and their two delightful daughters.