Edited by Robyn Wrigley-Carr
Foreward by Eugene Peterson
SPCK: London, 2018
Evelyn Underhill was, in many ways, the Thomas Merton of the 1st half of the
20th century, and the recent publication of her "Prayer Book" is a meditative
missive not to miss. The core and centre of the book, edited by Robyn Wrigley-Carr,
is worth many reads, and Robyn has done a superb job in bringing to the fore
Underhill's "Book of Private Prayers". Needless to say, such prayers, like the Psalter,
cover a wide range of varied genres of prayers. Underhill had a historic catholic breadth
and depth, and these prayers reflect such maturity of the faith journey.
The Appendix, rightly so, highlights for the reader how and why the "Prayer Book" was
edited to make it relevant for many readers, and the slim Foreward by Eugene Peterson
is a fine pointer to the banquet of a read that Robyn has so well prepared on the finest
of tables--she has served Underhill well and wisely.
There can be no doubt that the 159 prayers that cover pages 11-117 in "Evelyn Underhill's
Prayer Book" are worth daily reflections just as Robyn's "Introduction to the life of Underhill"
(for those who know her not) is a must read as a primer to the committed and evocative
life of Evelyn Underhill.
Do purchase, read and inwardly digest this beauty of a missive--much will be gleaned, the
soul significantly nourished and the life journey enriched by sitting at the feet of one who is
dead yet ever lives.
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