Philip Dunn has gathered together in this book more than 300 prayers from all times and all religions. Some of the thematic categories include prayers for meals, birth, joy, spiritual aspiration, abundance, nature, marriage, and health.
Dunn defines prayer as an expression of soul, communion with nature, an outgrowth of silence, a sound of praise from the heart, a meditation upon meaning, a purification of mind, service of others, a relationship with God, and a reverence for mystery. Prayer can take many forms from the Japanese tea ceremony to Sufi or Native American dancing to the movement of a tai chi master to the making of a poem. Most of the petitions in this volume honor the divine in life. Dunn concurs with J. Krishnamurti's belief that a hundred people in prayer, sitting together, can change the world.
The sections at the end of Prayer: Language of the Soul are helpful and interesting. One provides addresses, phone numbers, e-mail and web site addresses for locations that seem to be "the most exciting and dramatic examples of how prayer can be used to generate joy in the world."