Prayer

Uma breve revisão da vida e autobiografia espiritual do único americano místico Adi da (Franklin Jones). O adesivo na capa de algumas edições diz "a mais profunda autobiografia espiritual de todos os tempos" e isso pode muito bem ser verdade. Eu estou no meu 70 ́s e ter lido muitos livros por professores espirituais e na espiritualidade, e este é um dos maiores. Certamente, é by distante a conta a mais completa e a mais clara do processo da iluminação que (...) eu vi nunca. Mesmo se você não tem nenhum interesse em tudo no mais fascinante de todos os processos psicológicos humanos, é um documento surpreendente que revela uma grande quantidade de religião, yoga, e psicologia humana e sonda as profundezas e os limites das possibilidades humanas. Descrevo-o em alguns detalhes e comparar o seu ensinamento com o do contemporâneo místico indiano Osho. Aqueles que desejam um quadro até à data detalhado para o comportamento humano da opinião moderna dos dois sistemas consultar meu livros Falando Macacos 3ª Ed (2019), A Estrutura Lógica da Filosofia, Psicologia, Mente e Linguagem em Ludwig Wittgenstein e John Searle 2a Ed (2019), Suicídio Pela Democracia,4aEd(2019), Entendendo as Conexões entre Ciência, Filosofia, Psicologia, Religião, Política e Economia Artigos e Análises 2006-2019 (2019), Ilusões Utópicas Suicidas no 21St século 5a Ed (2019), A Estrutura Lógica do Comportamento Humano (2019), e A Estrutura Lógica da Consciência (2019) e outras. (shrink)

Scholars of the classical American philosophical tradition have not written much about prayer, despite the fact that almost every single one of the major figures of this tradition acknowledged its significance. The gap in the literature is notable in the case of George Santayana, who discusses prayer in several of his major works. And of all the classical American philosophers, Santayana may have the most fully developed treatment of prayer, particularly as it relates to the problem of petitionary prayer. Yet (...) his account of payer has not received much attention.1 This is surprising since, on the one hand, many of Santayana’s other views on religion and spirituality have been widely commented on, and, on the other .. (shrink)

ZUSAMMENFASSUNGDie Auseinandersetzung mit der Praxis des Bittgebets stellt keine Randthematik bei der Reflexion des theistischen Glaubens dar, sondern ist von erheblicher systematischer und existentieller Bedeutung. Eine rege Debatte über die Sinnhaftigkeit des Bittgebets ist gegenwärtig in der angelsächsischen Religionsphilosophie in Gang. Die Untersuchung präsentiert und würdigt kritisch die aktuellen Entwürfe zum Bittgebet von Eleonore Stump und Keith Ward. Beide Autoren erachten die traditionelle Konzeption des Bittgebets bei Thomas von Aquin für unbefriedigend und entwickeln ihre eigenen Entwürfe in Absetzung vom Aquinaten. (...) Da weder Stump noch Ward eine detaillierte Analyse des Bittgebets bei Thomas vorlegen, wird dieses in einem ersten Schritt vorgestellt. In einem zweiten Schritt erfolgt die Auseinandersetzung mit den von Stump und Ward vorgebrachten Einwänden. Abschließend werden Stärken und Schwächen des thomanischen Entwurfs erhoben.SUMMARYWhat petitionary prayer is about is not a marginal topic for theism but bears considerable systematic and existential value. A lively debate about the meaningfulness of petitionary prayer is under way in contemporary angloamerican philosophy of religion. The paper presents and discusses the accounts of petitionary prayer put forward by Eleonore Stump and Keith Ward. Both scholars consider the traditional account of petitionary prayer proposed by Thomas Aquinas as unsatisfactory and develop their own outlines in opposition to Aquinas. Regrettably neither Stump nor Ward provide us with a detailed analysis of Aquinas's understanding of petitionary prayer. Therefore the paper first presents at length the account of Aquinas. Then the objections Stump and Ward put forward against Aquinas are examined. Finally, strengths and weaknesses of Aquinas's understanding of petitionary prayer are worked out. (shrink)

Is divine goodness incompatible with efficacious petitionary prayer? Scott Davison has recently argued that prayer cannot make a difference in what God would do since a good God must always do what is best. I examine Davison's presentation of the divine goodness problem for petitionary prayer, and argue that the argument fails. I go on to argue that, since there are certain relational benefits uniquely made available through responding to petitionary prayer, divine goodness leads us to expect that God would (...) at least sometimes respond to petitionary prayer – even prayers for third parties. (shrink)

In the Natural history of religion, Hume attempts to understand the origin of our folk belief in gods and spirits. These investigations are not, however, purely descriptive. Hume demonstrates that ontological commitment to supernatural agents depends on motivated reasoning and illusions of control. These beliefs cannot, then, be reflectively endorsed. This proposal must be taken seriously because it receives support from recent work on our psychological responses to uncertainty. It also compares quite favorably with its main competitors in the cognitive (...) science of religion. (shrink)

Even thirty years after Thomas Morris wrote The Logic of God Incarnate, there are some claims that Morris makes that require examination in analytic Christology. One of those claims is a concession that Morris gives to modalists near the end of the book, where he says that the two-minds view he has defended can be used to provide a consistent modalistic understanding of Jesus’s prayer life. This view, he says, blocks the inference from the fact that Jesus prays to the (...) Father to the additional claim that Jesus and the Father are numerically distinct. I argue that Oneness Pentecostals can appropriate central concepts from The Logic of God Incarnate as Morris suggests, and further that this means Oneness Pentecostals should abandon the claim that Jesus believes he just is the Father. Once Oneness Pentecostals abandon this claim, they can give a possible explanation of how it is that Jesus relates to the Father in prayer even though he just is the Father. (shrink)

The practice of prayer for the dead has been criticized by some Christians on the grounds that it is useless (on the assumption that a postmortem change in spiritual state is impossible) and even sinful inasmuch as it wills a state of affairs contrary to that which God has already ordained. In this article, I challenge these arguments using a Boethian or Augustinian conception of God’s relationship to time. If prayers from all times are perceived by God in a tenseless (...) present, I argue that prayer for the dead becomes no more problematic than petitionary prayer about the future. (shrink)

In this article, I explore the possibility of what I call “non-doxastic theistic prayer”, namely prayer that proceeds without full belief in God – or in the kind of God who could be the recipient of such prayer. After developing a working definition of prayer, I proceed to discuss a few prominent forms of prayer and explore the ways in which such prayer might legitimately be performed non-doxastically. I conclude by examining the possibility that some forms of what I call (...) “prayerful pretense” may be more epistemically and morally virtuous than their fully doxastic counterparts. (shrink)

Teilhard de Chardin is a fascinating character! Born in 1881 and deceased in 1955, he remains strikingly contemporary. In response to a world shattered by the atrocities of World War I, he progressively elaborates the vision of a world entirely unified through a Center beyond itself. This perception is inserted at the heart of an intellectual endeavor wherein faith and scientific pursuit call onto each other, intertwined in a dialogue of a rare fruitfulness. Books such as The Phenomenon of Man, (...) The Divine Milieu, the Writings in time of War, or The Heart of the Matter witness to his underlying insight: "true" mysticism and the thrust of science which spiritualizes the earth coincide and are in fact one. Besides introducing to the life and thought of Teilhard de Chardin, this book is an anthology of his greatest texts where he discloses for us his mystical insights. (shrink)

The theme of the work concerns the so-called ‘unity experience’ of these mystics. The unity or oneness or the realization of ‘being oned’ with, can be referred to the beatific vision. In the case of Christian mystics it is unity experience of The Gottheit (or Godhead) of Meister Eckhart, in Sufism it is being united with The Beloved, in Buddhism it could be said to realize The Buddha mind or Cosmic Buddha’s consciousness and in Vedanta, the realization of The One (...) Real Self, non-dualism, non-religious non-duality and to be more and only in the ‘present now’ moment with a type of depth psychology and introspection and a kind of ‘the brain watching the brain’, physicalist, neuro-scientific approach. -/- What is absent from mystical studies and required is a multi-disciplinary neurosciences approach, as well as detailed, micro research by different disciplines. (shrink)

I critically respond to Scott A. Davison, Petitionary Prayer: A Philosophical Investigation. I attack his Contrastive Reasons Account of what it takes for a request to be answered and provide an alternative account on which a request is answered as long as it has deliberative weight for the person asked. I also raise issues with Davison’s dismissive treatment of direct divine communication. I then emphasize the importance of value theory for addressing the puzzles of petitionary prayer. Whether a defense of (...) petitionary prayer is successful depends on whether it can support the sort of requests that are central to the theological practices of the religion in question, explaining how they could be known to be effective, and this depends on the value theory of the theology in question. As an example, I show the relevance the traditional distinction between temporal and spiritual goods could have for knowing whether one’s prayers have been answered. How prayers could make a difference also depends on the theology in question, raising issues of ecclesiology and collective action that demand further attention. (shrink)

In this paper we will examine a number of G.E.M. Anscombe’s claims about the human person after death in light of the practices of praying to and for the pre-resurrected dead. In particular, we will look at whether these practices commit one to weighty ontological beliefs. In order to evaluate the costs and benefits of Anscombe’s claims, we will weigh them against competing claims from other theories. In section 1, we will describe a number of views about the human person, (...) noting whether they face difficulties, either in general or in relation to certain practices of prayer. In section 2, we turn to Anscombe’s theory itself, describing both her claims about the disembodied soul and the relation of these claims to the practices of prayer. In section 3, we will discuss the costs and benefits of this approach. In particular, we will note that Anscombe’s view has the benefit of avoiding the theoretical difficulties that plague each of the other views we discuss. We will argue, however, that there is also a great cost to her theory for Catholics: Her view would undermine the practices of praying to and for the dead for many of their participants. (shrink)

A study of the methods, approaches, prayers, etc to realize the 'unity experience' with THE ONE REAL SELF (Vedanta, Hinduism, ) God (Judaism), Gottheit (Christianity), Buddha mind (Buddhism), The Beloved (Sufism, Islam) of a number of mystics from several religious traditions. I wrote about this in a number of books and articles, for example about methods, techniques, practices and methodology here: as well as exploring and illustrating the subject-matter of philosophizing here: Explorations, questions and searches not put down on paper (...) are probably more important than the ones mentioned above. These were occurrences for almost as long as I can remember. They took many forms, endless questions about everything under the sun, unsatisfied with unexplained socio-cultural institutions, communities, social relationships, social roles, behaviour, values, norms and much more – I had to question them rather than merely submit to them or act in accordance with them. Although I expressed these questions and queries about the status quo in many areas such as sport, art, social sciences, endless reading and marginal groups and relationships I realized that they form part of the philosophical discourse. Not the discourse that has become the expression of the professionalization of philosophy the last few hundred years, but of the not-institutionalized practice of original thinking, of creative philosophical thinking. As examples of the latter, Socrates, of course, the pre-Socratics, Plato, Leibniz, Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, Plotinus, writers on Mysticism such as Meister Eckhart, van Ruysbroeck, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, from Advaita, Zen and other Buddhist schools, Wittgenstein, Hume, German Idealists, Rumi, novelists and poets, Paul Klee and other visual artists and many names who form part of the seeking for the unity-experience as explored in History of Mysticism (those who seek the unity experience, to become ONE with THE ONE, Godhead, the one real Self, Buddha mind, Sophos, etc). History of Mysticism *was first published by Atma Books in 1987, now and is a unique compendium of the lives and teachings of the world's best known mystics. They are presented in chronological order, and include representatives of every religious tradition, revealing the broad universality of genuine religious experience. expanded and revised Thirtieth Anniversary edition is available as a free downloadable PDF document on this website at my Downloads page. This book is fundamental for seasoned scholars of philosophy and religion as well as anyone new to the study of Mysticism. (shrink)

In this paper I will argue, contrary to common assumptions, that rational atheistic prayer is possible. I will formulate and respond to two powerful arguments against the possibility of atheistic prayer: first, an argument that the act of prayer involves an intention to communicate to God, precluding disbelief in God’s existence; second, an argument claiming that reaching out to God through prayer requires believing God might exist, precluding rational disbelief in God. In showing options for response to these arguments, I (...) will describe a model on which atheistic prayer is not only possible, but is on a par with theistic prayer in many more ways than one might expect. (shrink)

There is a concern about the effectiveness of petitionary prayer. If I pray for something good, wouldn’t God give it to me anyway? And if I pray for something bad, won’t God refrain from giving it to me even though I’ve asked? This problem has received significant attention. The typical solutions suggest that the prayer itself can alter whether something is good or bad. I will argue that this is insufficient to fully address the problem, but also that the problem (...) requires another assumption which can be doubted, thereby opening up a new way to solve the problem. (shrink)

I defend a solution to the puzzle of petitionary prayer based on some ideas of Aquinas, Gregory the Great, and contemporary desert theorists. I then address a series of objections. Along the way broader issues about the nature of desert, what is required for an action to have a point, and what is required for a puzzle to have a solution are discussed.

Scott Davison has raised an epistemic challenge to the doctrine of petitionary prayer. Roughly, the challenge is that we cannot know or have reason to believe that a prayer has been answered. Davison argues that the epistemic challenge undermines all the extant defenses of petitionary prayer. I argue that it does not.

Zawarta w niniejszym artykule dyskusja z tekstem Saula Smilansky’ego O wątpliwej moralności pewnych form modlitwy składa się z dwóch części. W pierwszej bronimy tezy, że fikcyjne przykłady prezentowane przez autora albo nie stanowią powszechnie akceptowalnych form modlitwy, albo dają się interpretować tak, że nie stanowią etycznego problemu. Życzenie komuś śmierci jest bowiem zawsze nieetyczne, ale w każdej wyobrażalnej sytuacji zagrożenia życia możliwa jest modlitwa o rozwiązanie, które nie pomnaża śmierci.W drugiej części bronimy tezy, że prezentowany w przykładach Smilansky’ego stosunek ludzi (...) do Boga w ogóle nie jest religijny, a w konsekwencji działania w nich opisane nie zasługują na miano „modlitwy”. Kiedy bowiem w naszym nastawieniu do Boga liczy się tylko to, że jest On zdolny zmienić bieg zdarzeń na naszą korzyść, a to, że jest On dobry umyka naszej uwadze, wówczas nie mamy na myśli Boga tradycji religijnej. W tym punkcie przywołujemy myślicieli należących do nurtu tzw. Wittgensteinowskiego fideizmu, których krytyka modlitwy błagalnej idzie być może zbyt daleko, skłania jednak do refleksji nad granicami właściwego stosunku do Boga. (shrink)

Na busca da cura do corpo, a oração opera milagres: uma discussão sobre eficácia simbólica, perspectivismo, cura e religião (In the search for the healing of the body, prayer works miracles: a discussion on symbolic efficacy, perspectivism) - DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2013v11n31p965 O artigo busca descrever, compreender e interpretar o caso observado de uma jovem portadora de teratoma ovariano maligno, internada em hospital do câncer na cidade de Belém, estado do Pará. A jovem foi desenganada diante do diagnóstico da doença, mas sua (...) mãe agarrou-se na “fé em Deus”, pois “Ele opera milagres”, dizendo que dela retiraram “coisa feia”, cheia de dentes, cabelos e gorduras, que não sabia inteiramente explicar, mas que “Jesus cura”. A mãe, evangélica, mantinha a Bíblia na enfermaria, orando em voz alta diante do leito da menina. Aos poucos, amenizou-se a gravidade do caso, deixando perplexo o saber biomédico, diante do reconhecimento de outras buscas de cura, como através da oração, que levou aquela jovem a sair de alta hospitalar. Esse episódio, observado atentamente pela coautora deste artigo, permite uma discussão que transcende o âmbito da biomedicina, do ponto de vista antropológico, especialmente no campo da chamada “eficácia simbólica”, em que xamanismo e psicanálise podem ser chamados para conferir sentido a esse drama, cujo desfecho mostrou-se favorável para a jovem e sua mãe, até o ponto que foi possível observar. Palavras-chave : Cura. Religião. Eficácia Simbólica.This article aims to describe, understand and interpret the observed case of a young woman with ovarian malignant teratoma, hospitalized in the cancer hospital in the city of Belém, State of Pará, Brazil. The young woman was thought as incurable on the diagnosis of the disease, but her mother clung in “faith in God”, because “He works miracles”, saying that “ugly things”, full of teeth, hair and grease, were removed from her; she also said that she could not understand it all, or full explain it, but she is convinced that “Jesus heals”. The mother, an Evangelical woman, held the Bible in the infirmary, praying out loud in front of the girl’s bed. Gradually it was alleviated the severity of the case, leaving bewildered the biomedical knowledge, on the recognition of other results, such as healing through prayer, which led that young woman to leave the hospital. This episode, closely observed by one of the authors of this article, allows a discussion that transcends the scope of biomedicine, from the anthropological point of view, especially in the field of the so-called “symbolic efficacy” (Lévi-Strauss), in which shamanism and psychoanalysis can be called to give meaning to this drama, whose outcome was favorable to the young woman and to her mother, until the point that it was possible to observe. Keywords : Healing. Religion. Symbolic efficacy. (shrink)

Contextualizationof Biblical texts is a priority of every exegete, who endeavors to bring the ancient scripts to dialogue with contemporary issues. This paper, which studies Psalm 72 and a prayer composed for good governance in Anambra State Nigeria, focuses on this hermeneutical interpretation. The writer adopts a simplified literary method in Biblical research that takes cognizance of the varied poetic techniques in Psalm 72 and engages in a detailed comparative study of a Psalm composed more than two millennia ago and (...) a prayer of our time. Such comparative study reveals a striking similar preoccupation of the composers of both texts. Both prayed for good governance of which all developing countries today are in dire need. (shrink)

No presente artigo tratar-se-á da reforma do Ordo Missae perpetrado pelo Concílio Ecumênico Vaticano II (1962-1965), em seus aspectos históricos e teológicos, bem como as incidências pastorais da mesma. Buscar-se-á como delimitação somente analisar a reforma do Ordo Missae, no que tange as Orações Eucarísticas implementadas pela reforma conciliar, especialmente ao problema da ‘reforma’ do Ordo Missae , do Cânon Romano e das novas Orações Eucarísticas. Em suma, vislumbra-se a reforma litúrgica, os aspectos teológicos da Sacrosanctum Concilio e o ‘problema (...) do Cânon’. O Concílio optou por retornar às fontes, redescobriu as Anáforas Eucarísticas Ocidentais e Orientais e adaptou-as nas Novas Orações Eucarísticas: a Anáfora de Hipólito de Roma em sua obra Traditio Apostolica que foi adaptada para ser a Oração Eucarística II; a Oração Eucarística III é inspirada na liturgia galicana e moçarábica; a Oração Eucarística IV de inspiração na Anáfora de Basílio e no Brasil somente, a Oração Eucarística V. Palavras-chave: Ordo Missae. Concílio Vaticano II. Orações Eucarísticas.: The Reform Ordo Missae Vatican II: historical, ,theological and pastoral aspects. This article deals with the reform of the Ordo Missae held by the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), in their historical and theological aspects, as well as its pastoral implications. The text will analyze the reform of Ordo Missae regarding the Eucharistic Prayers implemented by the Conciliar reform, especially the problem of 'reform' of the Ordo Missae, the Roman Canon and new Eucharistic Prayers. In short, this analysis aims to liturgical reform, the theological aspects of Sacrosanctum council and the 'problem of the canon'. The council opted to return to the sources, rediscovered the Eucharistic Anaphoras and adapted them in New Eucharistic Prayers: the Anaphora of Hippolytus of Rome in his Traditio Apostilica which was adapted for the Second Eucharistic Prayer. The Eucharistic Prayer III is inspired by the Gallican and moçarábica liturgy. Eucharistic Prayer IV is inspired in the Anaphora of Basilio. Keywords : Ordo Missae . Second Vatican Council. Eucharistic Prayers. (shrink)

The erstwhile sedentary Parisian theologian, Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, traveled extensively throughout Europe after his election as Minister General of the Minorite Order in 1257. In the fall of 1259 he arrived on Mount La Verna in Tuscany. As he ruminated on the stigmatized flesh of Francis of Assisi, Bonaventure composed the classical mystical text, Itinerarium mentis in Deum. Utilizing Michel de Certeau's work on prayer, travel narratives and spatial practices, this essay explores how Bonaventure rereads the story of the Poverello (...) in the Itinerarium mentis in Deum as a mystic narrative of peripatetic prayer. (shrink)