Talk:Prayer

What about what I might call the "contemplative approach"? Namely that the purpose of prayer is to enable the person praying to experience God... kind of like the "rational approach", but without presuming the contemplation to be so "intellectual". Or to make the person praying able to experience God (again, like the "educational", but less "intellectual" or "propositional")... Just trying to see where my own views fit in :)

Looks like I missed that totally. This is very significant in Christianity, fairly wide-spread in Judaism (but, it appears to me, viewed as less theologically imporant than the other views); this view must also be existent to some degree in Unitarian-Universalism. We should add this in! I would prefer a different title than "contemplative approach", because that name may give the impression of formal philosophical contemplation. What about a name like the "experiential approach", or something like that? RK

In Eastern Orthodoxy, this would be called hesychasm, I believe. It was defended theologically by Gregory Palamas at about three separate Hesychast Synods in Constantinople in the 1340's; it was attacked by Barlaam of Calabria, who advocated a more intellectual approach to prayer. This sort of prayer is described in great detail in the Philokalia, a compilation of what various Eastern Orthodox saints wrote about prayer. The Philokalia also talks a lot about the "prayer of the heart", or prayer without ceasing, which I think is related but slightly different. I suppose all of this might be called a subset of the "experiential approach". --Wesley

I unconsciously left this view out because, though this experience exists in Jewish prayer, it usually isn't considered a separate type of prayer (although, of course, it could be.) Rather, I have seen it presented as a consequence, or effect, of one of the other types of prayer. Of course, if such emotional communion is the goal, it becomes a separate category of prayer outright. To give an example, Hasidic Jews (and some non-Orthodox Jews as well) follow the Kabbalistic form of prayer; yet in doing so they also state that they strive to feel an emotional bond with God. To wit:

"In Hasidism, the kabbalistic type of kavvanot yields to a far more emotional involvement and attachment (devekut) to God. "The metamorphosis which took place in the meaning of kavvanot at the advent of Hasidism, and more explicitly after the Great Maggid [Dov Baer of Mezhirech], consists in this—that an originally intellectual effort of meditation and contemplation had become an intensely emotional and highly enthusiastic act". In Hasidism, prayer is a mystical encounter with the Divine, the heart leaping in ecstasy to its Source. Violent movements in prayer were not unusual; some of the hasidic groups even encouraged their followers to turn somersaults during their prayers." [Encyclopaedia Judaica, Prayer]

Also, we should add stuff on prayer in religions other than Western monotheism... -- SJK

Absolutely. RK

I removed a sentence saying that critics have complained about lack of control in the Mayo study. If those critics are different from the writer of that sentence, I would like to see a reference.

I'll get it for you. The reference is from an article in Skeptic magazine. It is a great source for articles on this subject. RK

The study had in fact a control group. Whether the people in the control group were in addition prayed for by family and friends is irrelevant, since the trial was randomized and you would expect to see the same amount of family-and-friend prayer in the control group as in the study group. The study showed only that the additional effect of the prayer group was nil. --AxelBoldt

I was referring to something different - how can one make any determination of the effect of prayer on a patient, if ALL the patients are being prayed for? (And in all likelihood, most of them are being prayer for by someone, even if this is not known.) In such a case, no control group is possible. Having additional people doing extra praying for some people only wouldn't make a difference - unless there was an additional and unreasonable hypothesis, such as that the prayers of friends and mfamily outside the study don't count. RK