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Christian meditation is a form of prayer in which a structured attempt is made to become aware of and reflect upon the revelations of God.〔''Christian Meditation for Beginners'' by Thomas Zanzig, Marilyn Kielbasa 2000, ISBN 0-88489-361-8 page 7〕 The word meditation comes from the Latin word ''meditārī'', which has a range of meanings including to reflect on, to study and to practice. Christian meditation is the process of deliberately focusing on specific thoughts (such as a bible passage) and reflecting on their meaning in the context of the love of God.〔''An introduction to Christian spirituality'' by F. Antonisamy, 2000 ISBN 81-7109-429-5 pages 76-77〕 Christian meditation aims to heighten the personal relationship based on the love of God that marks Christian communion.〔''Christian Meditation'' by Edmund P. Clowney, 1979 ISBN 1-57383-227-8 pages 12-13〕〔''The encyclopedia of Christianity, Volume 3'' by Erwin Fahlbusch, Geoffrey William Bromiley 2003 ISBN 90-04-12654-6 page 488〕 Both in Eastern and Western Christianity meditation is the middle level in a broad three-stage characterization of prayer: it involves more reflection than first level vocal prayer, but is more structured than the multiple layers of contemplative prayer.〔''Simple Ways to Pray'' by Emilie Griffin 2005 ISBN 0-7425-5084-2 page 134〕〔''Christian spirituality in the Catholic tradition'' by Jordan Aumann 1985 Ignatius Press ISBN 0-89870-068-X page 180〕〔''Orthodox prayer life: the interior way'' by Mattá al-Miskīn 2003 ISBN 0-88141-250-3 St Vladimir Press, "Chapter 2: Degrees of Prayer" pages 39-42 ()〕〔''The art of prayer: an Orthodox anthology'' by Igumen Chariton 1997 ISBN 0-571-19165-7 pages 63-65〕 Teachings in both the Eastern and Western Christian churches have emphasized the use of Christian meditation as an element in increasing one's knowledge of Christ.〔''Teaching world civilization with joy and enthusiasm'' by Benjamin Lee Wren 2004 ISBN 0-7618-2747-1 page 236〕〔''The Way of Perfection'' by Teresa of Avila 2007 ISBN 1-4209-2847-3 page 145〕〔''The Byzantine Empire'' by Robert Browning 1992 ISBN 0-8132-0754-1 page 238〕〔''The last centuries of Byzantium'', 1261-1453 by Donald MacGillivray Nicol 2008 ISBN 0-521-43991-4 page 211〕 In ''Aspects of Christian meditation'', the Holy See warned of potential incompatibilities in mixing Christian and non-Christian styles of meditation.〔(EWTN: Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ''Letter on certain aspects of Christian meditation'' (in English), October 15, 1989 )〕 In 2003, in ''A Christian reflection on the New Age'' the Vatican announced that "the Church avoids any concept that is close to those of the New Age".〔(Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2003 ''New Age Beliefs Aren't Christian, Vatican Finds'' )〕〔(BBC Feb 4, 2003 Vatican sounds New Age alert )〕〔(Vatican website )〕 ==Context and structure== Christian meditation involves looking back on Jesus' life, thanksgiving and adoration of God for his action in sending Jesus for human salvation.〔''Systematic theology'', Volume 3 by Wolfhart Pannenberg, Geoffrey W. Bromiley 1997 ISBN 0-8028-3708-5 page 210〕 In her book ''The Interior Castle'' (Mansions 6, Chapter 7) Saint Teresa of Avila defined Christian meditation as follows:
Quoting the Gospel of Matthew: "No one knows the Father but only the Son and anyone whom the Son wants to reveal him" and I Corinthians: "But we have received the Spirit who is from God so that we may realize what God has freely given us", theologian Hans von Balthasar explained the context of Christian meditation as follows:
Building on that theme, E. P. Clowney explained that three dimensions of Christian meditation are crucial, not merely for showing its distinctiveness, but for guiding its practice. The first is that Christian meditation is grounded in the Bible. Because the God of the Bible is a personal God who speaks in words of revelation, Christian meditation responds to this revelation and focuses on that aspect, in contrast to mystic meditations which use mantras. The second distinctive mark of Christian meditation is that it responds to the ''love of'' God, as in I John : "We love, for he first loved us". The personal relationship based on the love of God that marks Christian communion is thus heightened in Christian meditation. The third dimension is that the revelations of the Bible and the love of God lead to the worship of God: making Christian meditation an exercise in ''praise''.〔 Thomas Merton characterized the goal of Christian meditation as follows: "The true end of Christian meditation is practically the same as the end of liturgical prayer and the reception of the sacraments: a deeper union by grace and charity with the Incarnate Word, who is the only Mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ."〔''Spiritual direction and meditation'' by Thomas Merton 1960 ISBN 0-8146-0412-9 page 105〕 While Protestants view salvation in terms of ''faith and grace alone'' (i.e. sola fide and sola gratia) both Western and Eastern Christians see a role for meditation on the path to salvation and redemption.〔''Christian spirituality: an introduction'' by Alister E. McGrath 1999 ISBN 0-631-21281-7 pages 67-72〕 Apostle Paul stated in Epistle to the Romans that salvation only comes from "God that hath mercy".〔''Christian Meditation'' by Edmund P. Clowney, 1979 ISBN 1-57383-227-8 page 48〕 The path to salvation in Christian meditation is not one of give and take, and the aim of meditation is to bring joy to the heart of God. The Word of God directs meditations to show the two aspects of love that please God: obedience and adoration. The initiative in Christian salvation is with God, and one does not meditate or love God to gain his favor.〔''Christian Meditation'' by Edmund P. Clowney, 1979 ISBN 1-57383-227-8 page 27-28〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Christian meditation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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