024: The Contemplative Hint: Seeking to Say the Unsayable within Christianity with Rev. Dr. Peter Traben Haas

“Ministers and their congregations must instead consider what need there may be for churches as temples for contemplation and meditation, stripped of the courthouse furniture of stalls, pews, pulpits, lecterns and other equipment for throwing the Book at captive audiences.”

– Alan Watts

Rev. Dr. Peter Traben Haas is the author of several books, including Centering Prayers: A One  Year Daily Companion for Going Deeper into the Love of God. Peter runs the website contemplativechristians.com and the Facebook group Contemplative Christianity. Peter is steeped in the Christian contemplative tradition, passionate about bringing the contemplative mind into church communities and the sheer number of books mentioned in this episode could chart the course for your next year (or two) of reading.

In this episode, Peter shares his syllabus if were to teach a class on the formation of Peter Traben Haas, the spark that started his contemplative fire, and how churches could incorporate the contemplative way into their communities.  You can learn more about Peter’s work at contemplativechristians.com.

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EPISODE SHOW NOTES

Recent Books by Peter Traben Haas

• Centering Prayers: A One-Year Daily Companion for Going Deeper into the Love of God
• A Living Lent: A Contemplative Daily Companion for Lent & Holy Week
• A Beautiful Prayer: Answering Common Misperceptions about Centering Prayer
• See Peter’s Amazon Page for a complete listing of his books

Resources Mentioned

• The Book of Mercy by Leonard Cohen
• The Book of Hours by Rainer Maria Rilke
• Preface of Behold the Spirit by Alan Watts and Peter’s reflection
• Psychological Commentaries by Maurice Nicoll
• Anam Cara : spiritual wisdom from the Celtic world by John O’Donohue
• Beauty: The Invisible Embrace by John O’Donohue
• The Face of the Deep by Catherine Keller
• Cloud of the Impossible by Catherine Keller)
• Shadow of The Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot
• Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins
• A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken
• Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen
• In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen
• Prayer by Richard Foster
• Celebration of Disciplines by Richard Foster
• Open Mind, Open Heart by Thomas Keating
• Invitation to Love by Thomas Keating
• Heart of the World by Thomas Keating
• Meditations on the Tarot by Anonymous
• Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard
• The Bible
• The Experience of No Self by Bernadette Roberts
• The Path to No Self by Bernadette Roberts
• The Real Christ by Bernadette Roberts
• Devotional Classics by Richard Foster
• The Inner Experience by Thomas Merton

People

N.T. Wright

John O’Donahue

Rumi

Thomas Keating

Catherine Keller

Jim Elliot

James Fowler

Ken Wilber

Moody Bible Institute

Bernadette Roberts

Fr. William Menninger

Fr. Basil Pennington

Richard Rohr

Ilia Delio

James Finley

Cynthia Bourgeault

David Frenette

Karl Barth

Margaret Rizza

Bernadette Roberts

Center for Action and Contemplation

Fr. James Maloney

Drinks Pairings

Sweet Tea

Highlights

1m52s What books are currently resting on nightstand?

8m07s If you were going to teach a class on the formation of Peter Traben Haas, what would be the mandatory readings or works for your syllabus?

16m17s How did you come to find the practice of Centering Prayer?

23m30s What do think is barring churches from integrating Centering Prayer into their communities?

31m10s The intimacy of silence

32m45s I want to read an excerpt from the preface of Alan Watts’ Behold the Spirit that you reflected on recently, and then ask you to further reflect on how you  imagine Christianity of today seeking to embody these prophetic words:

“The practical problem is, what are we going to do on Sunday mornings? How are ministers to continue their work? What is to be the use of church buildings, funds, and administrative machinery? Naturally, institutional Christianity will, in its present form, continue to supply the demand which remains for a monarchical [civil] religion. But a considerable number of ministers and even congregations – not to mention millions of reasonably intelligent young people – realize that churches must ‘put up or shut up,’ and that the chief business of religious facilities and assemblies is to provide a social milieu for religious experience. This is no mere matter of changing the externals – of having rock bands instead of organs and Kyrie eleison set to jazz, nor even of turning churches into social service centers with the idea that this would be practicing Christianity seven days a week instead of just talking it on Sundays. Indeed, one may well hope that monarchical Christianity will not be practices, even on Sundays, since the dutiful spirit in which it dispenses charity breeds resentment in the giver and the receiver alike, for when the one gives with reluctance the other receives with guilt. Ministers and their congregations must instead consider what need there may be for churches as temples for contemplation and meditation, stripped of the courthouse furniture of stalls, pews, pulpits, lecterns and other equipment for throwing the Book at captive audiences. They must consider also the need for retreat houses and religious communities, and for guidance and instruction in the many forms of spiritual discipline which are conducive to mystical vision [non-dual knowing].” (pp. xx – xi, Behold the Spirit, Alan Watts).

42m05s If you were going to gift a budding contemplative with one book what would it be and why?

45m02s What drink would you recommend to pair with this conversation?

Photo credit: Death To Stock Photo