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The Name of Jesus: The Names of Jesus Used by Early Christians and the Development of the "Jesus Prayer" (Volume 44)
How the Jesus Prayer developed and the names by which early Christians addressed Christ.
- GenresTheology
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 4, 2015
O Lord, Come to My Assistance!
O Lord, Make Haste to Help Me!
We are living in an age where the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on me a sinner") has became one of the major aspects of the identity and devotional life of Eastern Christians. Many books, treatises, conferences, memes and the such like advise its use, offer insight, and make incredible claims both of its antiquity, spiritual benefits, and practice as not just a way of prayer, but "thee" way of prayer.
The Name of Jesus by Fr. Irenee Hausherr is not a collection of these quotes, tips or samplings of the various schools of how to practice the Jesus Prayer. It is a thorough history of the development of the Jesus Prayer, starting at the most primitive time in the church with how the early Christians invoked the name of Our Lord. The depth of the history and the resources that author pulls from would make it extremely hard to disagree with his conclusion, needless to say many pious statements, quips and exclamations lack much historical truth made about the Jesus prayer.
The author approaches our Fathers in Faith with great reverence, translates and cites from many sources probably not yet available in the entirety in English, offers the occasional critical mark against superficiality. In the process of learning about the Holy Name, you will learn about the development of prayer, how Monks kept the presence of God (they referred to it as the memory of God).
This book does illustrate that using short and continuous prayer is ancient and helpful for sanctification. The work also (although indirectly by way of evidence) repudiates many of the exaggerations and pietisms thrown about when people talk about the Jesus Prayer. It could be most helpful to someone who felt inclined to great strictness concerning the use of the traditional formula for the Jesus Prayer, rather than some other invocation that their heart felt drawn to.
This book is a great history of how people showed Reverence to the Holy Name during ancient times, practiced the presence of God, and how the Jesus Prayer developed and spread, though most of the time is spent on the former than the later, and I highly recommend it.
O Lord, Make Haste to Help Me!
We are living in an age where the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on me a sinner") has became one of the major aspects of the identity and devotional life of Eastern Christians. Many books, treatises, conferences, memes and the such like advise its use, offer insight, and make incredible claims both of its antiquity, spiritual benefits, and practice as not just a way of prayer, but "thee" way of prayer.
The Name of Jesus by Fr. Irenee Hausherr is not a collection of these quotes, tips or samplings of the various schools of how to practice the Jesus Prayer. It is a thorough history of the development of the Jesus Prayer, starting at the most primitive time in the church with how the early Christians invoked the name of Our Lord. The depth of the history and the resources that author pulls from would make it extremely hard to disagree with his conclusion, needless to say many pious statements, quips and exclamations lack much historical truth made about the Jesus prayer.
The author approaches our Fathers in Faith with great reverence, translates and cites from many sources probably not yet available in the entirety in English, offers the occasional critical mark against superficiality. In the process of learning about the Holy Name, you will learn about the development of prayer, how Monks kept the presence of God (they referred to it as the memory of God).
This book does illustrate that using short and continuous prayer is ancient and helpful for sanctification. The work also (although indirectly by way of evidence) repudiates many of the exaggerations and pietisms thrown about when people talk about the Jesus Prayer. It could be most helpful to someone who felt inclined to great strictness concerning the use of the traditional formula for the Jesus Prayer, rather than some other invocation that their heart felt drawn to.
This book is a great history of how people showed Reverence to the Holy Name during ancient times, practiced the presence of God, and how the Jesus Prayer developed and spread, though most of the time is spent on the former than the later, and I highly recommend it.
February 25, 2026
Unexpectedly, but truly, one of the most helpful books on prayer I've read in the last few years. I will return to it again before long.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews