The Bridges of Contemplative Prayer

Salt Lake Theological Seminary (Featuring Tony Campolo and Dallas Willard)

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The Bridges of Contemplative Prayer

Promoters of contemplative prayer believe this mystical experience is a bridge between Christianity and other religions, particularly Islam and Buddhism.

Listen to some of these contemplatives as they pronounce their interspirituality:

"Those who have practiced Transcendental Meditation may be surprised to learn that Christianity has its own time-honored form of mantra meditation ... Reliance on a mantric centering device had a long history in the mystical canon of Christianity."
—Ronald Miller, As Above, So Below, p. 52.

"This mystical stream [contemplative prayer] is the Western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality."
—Tilden Edwards, Spiritual Friend, p. 18.

"Our job is to construct a bridge that connects the ancient text with our contemporary audience, making it easier for them to see the immediate application
of God's Word."
—Rick Warren, Pastors.com

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Contemplative Spirituality: A belief system that uses ancient mystical practices to induce altered states of consciousness (the silence) and is rooted in mysticism and the occult but often wrapped in Christian terminology. The premise of contemplative spirituality is pantheistic (God is all) and panentheistic (God is in all). Common terms used for this movement are "spiritual formation," "the silence," "the stillness," "ancient-wisdom," "spiritual disciplines," and many others.

Spiritual Formation: A movement that has provided a platform and a channel through which contemplative prayer is entering the church. Find spiritual formation being used, and in nearly every case you will find contemplative spirituality. In fact, contemplative spirituality is the heartbeat of the spiritual formation movement.