The lan­guage of prayer, Cather­ine Mad­sen argues, has mean­ing beyond its words. But when con­tem­po­rary litur­gists attempt to make the lan­guage of prayer acces­si­ble, that dimen­sion is often lost and with it much of the pow­er and sig­nif­i­cance of prayer. 

In sim­pli­fy­ing litur­gi­cal lan­guage and bring­ing it into line with cur­rent sen­si­bil­i­ties, con­tem­po­rary bib­li­cal trans­la­tors and litur­gists often under­es­ti­mate deeply felt emo­tion­al and moral needs. The human sit­u­a­tion is com­plex, and tra­di­tion­al litur­gi­cal lan­guage, with its ambi­gu­i­ties, daz­zling metaphors, open ques­tions, and dra­ma, has the capac­i­ty to com­pel and stir wor­shipers. Over­ly famil­iar litur­gi­cal lan­guage can lull wor­shipers into unques­tion­ing comfort. 

Mad­sen, bib­li­og­ra­ph­er at the Nation­al Yid­dish Book Cen­ter and con­tribut­ing edi­tor to Cross­Cur­rents, draws on a wide array of dis­ci­plines — psy­chol­o­gy and cog­ni­tive sci­ence, con­tem­po­rary and tra­di­tion­al litur­gy, the his­to­ry of lit­er­a­ture — to build her argu­ment. A demand­ing and chal­leng­ing book, The Bones Reassem­ble will speak to all wor­shipers who view prayer as a vital force for thought and moral action. Notes, bib­li­og­ra­phy, index.