Hello? Is Anyone There?: A Pastoral Reflection on the Struggle with Unanswered Prayer

According to the Bible the God of Christianity has a reputation for answering prayer. However many Christians have been sometimes severely tempted to think they have been sold short as they have found themselves in some crisis and have cried out to God in all sincerity and found that he has been out. From years of pastoral experience in addressing crises and after having to face crises in his own experience Roger Abbott attempts to help Christians who are struggling with what seem to be very real instances of God not answering their heartfelt prayers. There are many books about prayer but there are not many that attempt to face the huge struggles with prayer that pray-ers can face. This book while refusing to shirk those struggles and the debilitating emotional impact they can have also attempts to navigate those emotional struggles with the use of a practical theology. Some Christians think other Christians pray. Hello? Is Anyone There? combines a passion for thoughtful theology and a passion for prayer out of a passion for a relationship with God in Christ. This is an excellent and enjoyable book that deals competently and comprehensively with the problem of unanswered prayer. Thoroughly biblical and pastorally sensitive these sixteen brief absorbing chapters can be of enormous help to Christians. Buy a copy and read it over and over again. --D. Eryl Davies Research Supervisor Wales Evangelical School of Theology (WEST) UK The apparent silence of heaven in the midst of adversity is one of the hardest trials faced by many believers. Roger Abbott draws sensitively on scriptural evidence and his own experience to meditate on how we might respond positively in faith to prayers that go seemingly unanswered. --Robert White Professor of Geophysics Cambridge University UK Roger Abbott is Research Associate in Natural Disasters at the Faraday Institute for Science & Religion Cambridge UK. He also lectures in pastoral responses to trauma at the Wales Evangelical School of Theology Bridgend. He is the author of Sit on Our Hands or Stand on Our Feet? (Wipf & Stock 2013).