This book adopts the format of the editors' previous book, Buddhists Talk about Jesus, Christians Talk about the Buddha. In that book, eight scholar-practitioners -- four of them Buddhist and four Christian -- explore their relationship to the great religious figure of the other tradition. Then the remaining contributors, two from each tradition, address themselves, rebuttal fashion, to the views expressed.

In the new book the subject is the differences and similarities between Buddhist meditation and Christian prayer. What can a Christian, for example, learn from the mental and physical rigor of Buddhist meditative practice? What can a Buddhist learn from traditional Christian prayer? Can one mix distinct religious identity (Christian) with practice techniques associated with another religion (Buddhist) without compromising the religious specificity of either the identities or the techniques?