The Power of Ritual

 I had very mixed feelings about the book The Power of Ritual: How to Create Meaning and Connection in Everything You Do I hold a masters degree in theology and tend to prefer books on subjects related to spirituality and religion that have meatier academic research to to have more new ideas presented in the book. However the writer does acknowledge that he is not working with any new concepts but rather is trying to bring them to a secular context.
The writer took spiritual practices like lectio divina (sacred readings), pilgrimages and Sabbath keeping and utilized these concepts to talk about ways that someone might be able to make more meaningful practices out of things that are already present in their life. I really liked this concept. I know that I am in one of the demographics that really can benefit from this material as someone who was raised and academically trained in Christian settings. However due to misconducts and the hypocritical nature of the church I have felt most comfortable being away from institutional religion. However, at this point in my life I am trying to find ways to implement some sense of spirituality into my life outside of this kind of context. So I appreciated the way the material of this book got me to interface with my own life.

With that being said, I did feel like the more substantial points in the book could have been reduced to an article or a professional blog post. But I certainly do not want to diminish the kinds of reflection that these points DO offer. In fact, this is a book I feel the need to return to on a regular basis as I am thinking more about my own spiritual intentions. This would be an excellent book to discuss with someone, however, in order to really highlight these points the material could have been reduced to a shorter format.

I also published this review on Goodreads