Concept

Prayer

Overview

Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified ancestor. More generally, prayer can also have the purpose of giving thanks or praise, and in comparative religion is closely associated with more abstract forms of meditation and with charms or spells.

Prayer can take a variety of forms: it can be part of a set liturgy or ritual, and it can be performed alone or in groups. Prayer may take the form of a hymn, incantation, formal creedal statement, or a spontaneous utterance in the praying person.

The act of prayer is attested in written sources as early as five thousand years ago. Today, most major religions involve prayer in one way or another; some ritualize the act, requiring a strict sequence of actions or placing a restriction on who is permitted to pray, while others teach that prayer may be practiced spontaneously by anyone at any time.

Scientific studies regarding the use of prayer have mostly concentrated on its effect on the healing of sick or injured people. The efficacy of prayer in faith healing has been evaluated in numerous studies, with contradictory results. Many well-controlled trials have found no effect; some even suggest negative outcomes.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

In the original texts

Passages from public-domain books where Prayer is discussed.

For thus we heard in the Second Commandment: Thou shalt not take the name of the lord, thy God, in vain, that we are there required to praise that holy name, and call upon it in every need, or to pray. For to call upon the name of God is nothing else than to pray. Prayer is therefore as strictly and earnestly commanded as all other commandments: to have no other God, not to kill, not to steal, etc. Let no one think…
Martin Luther, Martin Luther's Large Catechism
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For whom should we pray? 6. What should our prayers contain? 7. What is to be said about the manner of our praying? 8. What is to be said about the posture in prayer? 9. Why must we pray in Christ's name? 10. What is meant by praying in Christ's name? 11. What is to be said about the importance of praying in faith? 12. Does God always answer prayer? 13. In what ways does He answer? SCRIPTURE VERSES.--Ps. 19:14. Let…
Martin Luther, An Explanation of Luther's Small Catechism
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Therefore prayer is an act of religion. It properly belongs to the virtue of religion to give due reverence and honour to God, and hence all those things by which such reverence is shown to God come under religion.
Aquinas Thomas, On prayer and the contemplative life
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They may then, like the Tibetans, chew the cud of their "_om mane padme hum_," innumerable times, or, as in Benares, count the name of God Ram-Ram-Ram (and so on, with or without grace) on their fingers; or honour Vishnu with his thousand names of invocation, Allah with his ninety-nine; or they may make use of the prayer-wheels and the rosary: the main thing is that they are settled down for a time at this work, and…
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Joyful Wisdom
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5. The word _"Amen"_ with which we conclude our prayer means, as our Catechism explains it: _"Yea, yea, it shall be so."_ We express in this word our assurance that our prayers are _acceptable to our Father in heaven,_ and that _He will hear them._ May we really be certain that our petitions are acceptable to God? Most assuredly.
George Mezger, Lessons in the Small Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther For the Senior Department of Lutheran Sunday-Schools and for General Use
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Prayer

Overview

In the original texts

Philosophers who discussed Prayer

Related ideas

Place in the tradition