Evelyn Underhill’s Prayer Book

New in the Library

Delroy Oberg, a regular visitor to the Community of the Holy Name, has published extensively on the English spiritual writer Evelyn Underhill. Recently she donated to the Library the latest work by Underhill herself, ‘Evelyn Underhill’s Prayer Book’ (SPCK, 2018), edited by another woman living in Australia, Robyn Wrigley-Carr. Just when we think all of an author’s work has seen the light of day, someone springs a surprise. The cover-flap explains: “Between 1924 and 1938, Evelyn Underhill compiled two personal prayer books for use when conducting spiritual retreats at the Chelmsford Diocese House of Retreat, Pleshey. The prayers include carefully selected quotations from a variety of theologians and writers of Christian spirituality, as well as her own very rich, metaphorical and theologically deep reflections.”  

Indeed, there are also quotations from Scripture, from the liturgies of different church traditions, at least one Sufi, and prayers by Underhill and one or two of her companions. While we may assume that she collected the prayers for her own use, they were also used in her retreats. This gives the book new depth of meaning, as it helps in our reading of Underhill’s other works as well. These are the prayers she drew on most often while giving spiritual direction to others, the prayers she returned to and relied on consistently in her work. That the two books, now one book, have been rescued from disappearance is a minor miracle in itself; the story of the salvage operation is told crisply in the Introduction. The book offers Underhill readers and scholars new ways of appreciating and researching her remarkable life’s work.

The book is though, obviously enough, a prayer book. Its happiest and ultimate use is for readers who treat the book as its author did, as a source for prayer life. The text is clearly set out under headings, with access via footnotes, biographies, and a subject index. Beautifully produced and in handbook size, the book offers a way into the living world of Evelyn Underhill while also being a very valuable collection of prayers, both new and old.

-          Philip Harvey