Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans - A Book Review

I’ve only recently started reading some works by the Puritans. However, I’ve been a fan of their prayers for quite some time. When you think about Puritan prayers, your mind most likely heads toward the classic The Valley of Vision. It has been the staple collection of Puritan prayers for some time now. I have enjoyed reading and praying through the prayers in The Valley of Vision. The depths of the prayers of the Puritans really makes an impact.

That’s why I was excited to check out this new Puritan prayer books called Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans. It’s edited by Robert Elmer and being published by Lexham Press. What will strike you first and foremost is the design of the book. It’s a hardcover that’s navy blue with gold etching for the design. I love that it’s durable and created with such an attractive design. The Valley of Vision could stand to have a cover update to make it look as nice as Piercing Heaven.

In the book, you’ll find categories organizing the prayers with the list of prayers underneath. A couple of examples of the categories are “Help me ask for help!” and “Help me rest in God’s love”. The prayer index may be my biggest complaint with the book. I would’ve loved for there to be page numbers by each prayer, but instead you have to head to the category and then search for the prayer you’re looking for within that category. It makes the process take a little longer. The prayers are listed in order though so that may help you jump more quickly to the one you’re looking for.

After the list of prayers, you’ll come to an introduction speaking of why we’d want to pray like a Puritan. After the introduction you’ll find a list of authors and then you jump into the prayers. One thing I do like is that this resource tells you which Puritan each prayer belongs to. The Valley of Vision doesn’t do that and I always wished it did. Finally, in the back is a short biography of each author, which is also a really nice feature that will help you get to know the Puritans in a short and concise way.

A final feature that I think most will like about Piercing Heaven is that the editor has changed the prayers to modern English. Modern English will allow the reader to focus more on praying the prayer and using this as a prayer book instead of worrying about what certain words mean or having to do minor translation to pray them in the way we speak.

All in all, this is already one of my new favorite books this year. I find myself always keeping it in my bag to have it on hand. Prayer is something I am always striving to do more of and get better at and Piercing Heaven is a great tool to have in my quest.

You can pick up your copy of Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans on Amazon. (affiliate)

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Lexham Press in exchange for a fair and honest review.