A daily devotional is a religious publication that provides a specific spiritual reading for each calendar day. Many daily devotionals take the form of one year devotional books, with many being tailored specifically for children, teenagers, students, men and women.
Traditionally, daily devotionals came in the format of a book, with one reading passage for each day, and often a reflection and prayer. With the advent of online content, daily devotionals come in multiple formats including apps, blogs, websites, and emails (electronic daily devotional). There continues to be a multitude of devotional books and calendars, in addition to numerous online devotionals, that are tailored to a variety of recipient, religious denomination, or view. Daily devotionals differ from breviaries, the Salah, or other fixed prayer times every day, in that daily devotionals can be used at leisure.
Daily devotionals have a long tradition in Christian religious communities, with the earliest known example being the Gælic Feliré written in Ireland in the Ninth Century.[1] They tend to be associated with a daily time of prayer and meditation. Churchgoers often get one-year devotional books from Christian bookstores and give these as gifts for life events, such as baptisms, confirmations, graduations, weddings, among other occasions.[2]
- ^ Hudson, Robert (ed.) (2004) The Christian Writer's Manual of Style: Updated and Expanded Edition Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Mich., p.176, ISBN 0-310-48771-4
- ^ "Christian Booksellers See Hope Ahead". Publishers Weekly. February 10, 2021. Retrieved June 17, 2021.