Body Prayer, The Posture of Intimacy with God, by Doug Pagitt and Kathryn Prill (Colorado Springs: Waterbrook Press, 2005), 150 pp. $15.99

Body Prayer is written by two Emergent Church leaders and is based on the premise that our physical posture in prayer somehow brings our mind under the reign of the body (p. 6) and enhances our experience of intimacy with God. Thirty different prayer postures are offered; a few modeled after biblical examples but most not. The design behind these suggested postures and accompanied activities is to create a feeling of release, peace, inspiration or nearness to God. Each exercise is followed by blank pages in which the participant is to write a prayer journal chronicling his experience in using that particular posture in prayer.

On the positive side, since Scripture does not prescribe any particular posture in prayer we have the freedom to use whatever bodily position we find helpful. However, Scripture does not ascribe the benefits to physical posture that these authors do. The distinct focus of the book is that varied postures in prayer will produce unique experiences. Nothing in God’s Word teaches this.