Beads of Faith: Pathways to Meditation and Spirituality Using Rosaries, Prayer Beads, and Sacred Words

by Gray Henry, Susannah Marriott

The practice of the rosary in various faiths is thoroughly covered in this stunning book and its accompanying DVD. For background, the commentary explains that the word "bead" has an interfaith it comes from both the Sanskrit "Buddh," which refers to self-realization (the Buddha is the "Enlightened One"); and it also derives from the Saxon verb "bidden," meaning to pray. The rosaries pictured are made from such materials as rose petals, chunks of Tibetan amber, exquisitely carved Italian coral, and silken Turkish tassels. One simple mantra or prayer for each faith is also presented, as is a prize-winning DVD that takes the viewer into various world cultures where the recitation and method can be heard and seen.

Genres: Religion

112 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2003

Reviews

[Tony Raissian · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the only surveys of how different faith traditions use prayer beads. Interesting to see the parallels.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very, VERY basic overview of prayer beads in different religious traditions. I felt that it was a bit too shallow, even for a basic overview. I was also disappointed that there aren't even photos of all of the different types of beads in the book (the Orthodox prayer rope is only shown in the accompanying DVD). In the book, the Jewish tefilim seemed completely out of place, and their place in the collection was really only better established in the DVD. In the book, it almost came across as though the authors just didn't want to exclude any major religious tradition. The DVD was also better organized than the book, in that it progressed chronologically through the subject matter. Ultimately, I almost felt as if the accompanying DVD had more value than the book itself... or would have, had it not been narrated in such a monotone, robotic voice that couldn't have been more obvious about reading from a script (I expect a documentary narrator to be reading from a script, but it's nice if they don't sound like it). Much of the DVD is verbatim repeated from the book, but it elaborates in ways that were lacking in the text of the book itself. I do like that the book gives examples of devotional prayers that are said with each type of prayer beads. I feel like this book has an obligatory place on the bookshelf of anyone who is interested in the tradition of prayer beads or different religious devotions, but I also feel that paying full price for it was paying too much.