Prayer Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Christianity=== {{Main|Christian prayer|Christian worship}} {{quote box | quote = Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. | source = βknown as "[[The Lord's Prayer]]"<ref>{{Bibleverse|Matthew|6:9β13|31}}</ref> | align = right | width = 25% }} [[File:Christ in Gethsemane.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Jesus]] praying in [[Gethsemane]]. Depicted by [[Heinrich Hofmann (painter)|Heinrich Hofmann]]]] Christian prayers are quite varied. They can be completely spontaneous, or read entirely from a text, like the Anglican [[Book of Common Prayer]]. The most common prayer among Christians is the [[Lord's Prayer]], which according to the [[gospel]] accounts (e.g. [[s:Bible (American Standard)/Matthew#6:9|Matthew 6:9β13]]) is how [[Jesus]] taught his [[Disciple (Christianity)|disciples]] to pray.<ref name=Geldart108 >''Examining Religions: Christianity Foundation Edition'' by Anne Geldart 1999 {{ISBN|0-435-30324-4}} p. 108</ref> The Lord's Prayer is a model for prayers of adoration, confession and petition in Christianity.<ref name=Geldart108 /> In the second century ''[[Apostolic Tradition]]'', [[Hippolytus of Rome|Hippolytus]] instructed Christians to pray at [[fixed prayer times|seven fixed prayer times]]: "on rising, at the lighting of the evening lamp, at bedtime, at midnight" and "the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day, being hours associated with Christ's Passion."<ref name="Chadwick1993">{{cite book |author1=[[Henry Chadwick (theologian)|Henry Chadwick]] |title=The Early Church |date=1993 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-101-16042-8 |language=en|quote=Hippolytus in the ''Apostolic Tradition'' directed that Christians should pray seven times a day - on rising, at the lighting of the evening lamp, at bedtime, at midnight, and also, if at home, at the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day, being hours associated with Christ's Passion. Prayers at the third, sixth, and ninth hours are similarly mentioned by Tertullian, Cyprian, Clement of Alexandria and Origen, and must have been very widely practised. These prayers were commonly associated with private Bible reading in the family.}}</ref><ref name="LΓΆssl2010">{{cite book |last1=LΓΆssl |first1=Josef |title=The Early Church: History and Memory |date=17 February 2010 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-567-16561-9 |page=135 |language=en|quote=Not only the content of early Christian prayer was rooted in Jewish tradition; its daily structure too initially followed a Jewish pattern, with prayer times in the early morning, at noon and in the evening. Later (in the course of the second century), this pattern combined with another one; namely prayer times in the evening, at midnight and in the morning. As a result seven 'hours of prayer' emerged, which later became the monastic 'hours' and are still treated as 'standard' prayer times in many churches today. They are roughly equivalent to midnight, 6 a.m., 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Prayer positions included prostration, kneeling and standing. ... Crosses made of wood or stone, or painted on walls or laid out as mosaics, were also in use, at first not directly as objections of veneration but in order to 'orientate' the direction of prayer (i.e. towards the east, Latin ''oriens'').}}</ref> [[Breviary|Breviaries]] such as the [[Shehimo]] and [[Agpeya]] are used by [[Oriental Orthodox Christians]] to pray these [[canonical hours|seven canonical hours]] while facing in the [[direction of prayer|eastward direction of prayer]].<ref name="Kurian2020">{{cite web |last1=Kurian |first1=Jake |title="Seven Times a Day I Praise You" β The Shehimo Prayers |url=http://www.ds-wa.org/seven-times-a-day-i-praise-you-the-sheema-prayers.html |publisher=[[Malankara Orthodox Diocese of Southwest America|Diocese of South-West America of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]]|access-date=2 August 2020}}</ref><ref name="Amherst1906">{{cite book |author1=[[Mary Cecil, 2nd Baroness Amherst of Hackney]] |title=A Sketch of Egyptian History from the Earliest Times to the Present Day |date=1906 |publisher=Methuen |page=399 |language=en |quote=Prayers 7 times a day are enjoined, and the most strict among the Copts recite one of more of the Psalms of David each time they pray. They always wash their hands and faces before devotions, and turn to the East.}}</ref> In medieval England, prayers (particularly the ''[[Lord's Prayer|paternoster]]'') were frequently used as a measure of time in medical and culinary recipe books.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Taavitsainen | first1 = Irma | year = 2001 | title = Middle English Recipes: Genre Characteristics, Text Type Features and Underlying Traditions of Writing | journal = Journal of Historical Pragmatics | volume = 2 | pages = 85β113 [103] | doi = 10.1075/jhp.2.1.05taa }}</ref> Christians generally pray to God. Some Christians, such as Catholics, Lutherans, Orthodox, and Methodists [[pray for the dead]];<ref name="Gould">{{cite book|last=Gould|first=James B.|title=Understanding Prayer for the Dead: Its Foundation in History and Logic|date=4 August 2016|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=9781620329887|pages=57β58|language=en|quote=The Roman Catholic and English Methodist churches both pray for the dead. Their consensus statement confirms that "over the centuries in the Catholic tradition praying for the dead has developed into a variety of practices, especially through the Mass. ...The Methodist church ... has prayers for the dead. ...Methodists who pray for the dead thereby commend them to the continuing mercy of God.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gould |first1=James B. |title=Understanding Prayer for the Dead: Its Foundation in History and Logic |date=2017 |publisher=The Lutterworth Press |isbn=978-0-7188-4599-5 |page=51 |language=en |quote=The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America remembers the faithful departed in the Prayers of the People every Sunday, including those who have recently died and those commemorated on the church calendar of saints.}}</ref> [[Roman Catholic]]s, will also ask the righteous in heaven and "in Christ," such as the [[Virgin Mary]] or other saints to intercede by praying on their behalf ([[intercession of saints]]). Formulaic closures in many Christian denominations, such as Lutheranism and Catholicism include "through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, through all the ages of ages," and "in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit."<ref name="King2006"/> It is customary among Christians to end prayers with "In [[Jesus]]' name, Amen" or more commonly, with the [[sign of the cross]] while saying the [[Trinitarian formula]].<ref name="King2006">{{cite book |last1=King |first1=Mike |title=Presence-Centered Youth Ministry: Guiding Students Into Spiritual Formation |date=29 August 2006 |publisher=InterVarsity Press |isbn=978-0-8308-3383-2 |page=131 |language=en |quote=Luther instructed his followers to make the sign of the cross at both the beginning and end of the day as a beginning to daily prayers. In the Small Catechism, the section on morning and evening prayers, Luther says: "When you get out of bed, bless yourself with the holy cross and say, 'In the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.'" This same instruction is given for bedtime.}}</ref><ref>See John 16:23, 26; John 14:13; John 15:16</ref> The most commonly used closure of prayer in Christianity is "[[Amen]]" (from a Hebrew adverb used as a statement of affirmation or agreement, usually translated as ''so be it''). In the [[Latin Church]] of the [[Catholic Church]], probably the most common is the [[Rosary]]; in the [[Eastern Christianity]] (including the [[Eastern Catholic Churches]] of the Catholic Church and [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]), the [[Jesus Prayer]]. The Jesus Prayer is also often repeated as part of the [[Christian meditation|meditative]] [[hesychasm]] practice in [[Eastern Christianity]].<ref>Parry, Ken; David Melling (editors) (1999). ''The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity'' {{ISBN|0-631-23203-6}} p. 230</ref> Latin Catholic tradition includes specific prayers and devotions as [[acts of reparation]] which do not involve a petition for a living or deceased beneficiary, but aim to repair the sins of others, e.g. for the [[Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ|repair of the sin of blasphemy]] performed by others.<ref>{{Cite Catholic Encyclopedia |wstitle=Reparation |volume=12 |first=Thomas |last=Slater}}</ref> ====Pentecostalism==== In [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]] congregations, prayer is often accompanied by speaking in an unknown tongue, a practice now known as [[glossolalia]].<ref>[[Oxford English Dictionary]], 2nd ed, 1989</ref> Practitioners of Pentecostal glossolalia may claim that the languages they speak in prayer are real foreign languages, and that the ability to speak those languages spontaneously is a gift of the [[Holy Spirit]].<ref>{{cite web |title= Library β Religion β Christianity β Pentecostalism |publisher= Australian Broadcasting Company |url= http://www.abc.net.au/religion/stories/s820631.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141104194445/http://www.abc.net.au/religion/stories/s820631.htm |archive-date= 2014-11-04 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Bibleverse|Acts|2:1β13|31}}</ref><ref>{{Bibleverse|Acts|10:45β47|31}}</ref> Some people outside of the movement, however, have offered dissenting views. [[George Barton Cutten]] suggested that glossolalia was a sign of mental illness.<ref>George Barton Cutten, ''Speaking with Tongues Historically and Psychologically Considered'', Yale University Press, 1927.</ref> [[Felicitas Goodman]] suggested that tongue speakers were under a form of hypnosis.<ref>Goodman, Felicitas D., ''Speaking in Tongues: A Cross-Cultural Study in Glossolalia''. University of Chicago Press, 1972.</ref> Others suggest that it is a learned behaviour.<ref>Hine, Virginia H.: 'Pentecostal Glossolalia toward a Functional Interpretation.' ''Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion'' 8, 2: (1969) 211β26: quote on p. 211</ref><ref>Samarin, William J., ''Tongues of Men and Angels: The Religious Language of Pentecostalism''. Macmillan, New York, 1972, quote on p. 73</ref> Some of these views have allegedly been refuted.<ref>Hine, Virginia H.: 'Pentecostal Glossolalia toward a Functional Interpretation.' ''Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion'' 8, 2: (1969) 211β26: quote on p. 213</ref><ref>Spanos, Nicholas P.; Hewitt, Erin C.: Glossolalia: 'A test of the 'trance' and psychopathology hypotheses.' ''Journal of Abnormal Psychology'': 1979 Aug Vol 88(4) 427β34.</ref> ====Christian Science==== [[Christian Science]] teaches that prayer is a spiritualization of thought or an understanding of God and of the nature of the underlying spiritual creation. Adherents believe that this can result in healing, by bringing spiritual reality into clearer focus in the human scene. The world as it appears to the senses is regarded as a distorted version of the world of spiritual ideas. Prayer can heal the distortion. Christian Scientists believe that prayer does not change the spiritual creation but gives a clearer view of it, and the result appears in the human scene as healing: the human picture adjusts to coincide more nearly with the divine reality.<ref>[[Mary Baker Eddy]], "Prayer," in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Boston, Trustees Under the Will of Mary Baker Eddy, 1934 [etc.] pp. 1β17</ref> Christian Scientists do not practice [[intercessory prayer]] as it is commonly understood, and they generally avoid combining prayer with medical treatment in the belief that the two practices tend to work against each other. Prayer works through [[love]]: the recognition of God's creation as spiritual, intact, and inherently lovable.<ref>{{cite web|title=Is there no intercessory prayer?|url=http://www.christianscience.org/QAIsthereintercesprayer.html|access-date=2007-10-13|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/19990830121655/http://www.christianscience.org/QAIsthereintercesprayer.html|archive-date=1999-08-30}} </ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page