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Individual Spiritual Practices: Understanding Prayer

James A. Van Slyke. Individual Spiritual Practices: Understanding Prayer. Perspectives on Prayer. Prayer mainly associated with the Christian tradition (also Hindu and Buddhism) Petitioning God Meet basic needs (food or clothing) Meet Spiritual needs (forgiveness, purity)

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Individual Spiritual Practices: Understanding Prayer

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  1. James A. Van Slyke Individual Spiritual Practices: Understanding Prayer

  2. Perspectives on Prayer • Prayer mainly associated with the Christian tradition (also Hindu and Buddhism) • Petitioning God • Meet basic needs (food or clothing) • Meet Spiritual needs (forgiveness, purity) • Ascent of the mind or soul towards God • Plotinus • Inward turn towards God • Conversation with God

  3. Perspectives on Prayer • Expressive prayer • Sharing our emotions or desires with God • Usually involves speech (spoken or inner) • Praise (Kataphatic tradition) • Contemplative prayer • Letting Go • Creating space for God to speak • Silence (Apophatic tradition)

  4. Teresa of Avila (1515-82) • Christian mystic and nun • The Interior Castle (1577) • Prayer should be a transformative experience • Changes our perspective on the world • Moves us away from illusion • Liminal state – stuck between two states • Guilt and forgiveness • Provides space for transition

  5. Relationality • Moves us to a state of trust and dependence on God • More attuned to the needs of others • Connects us more deeply to others • Continual activity (“pray without ceasing”) • Provides a connection to God throughout the day • Sensing the relational presence of God

  6. Prayer in the Christian Tradition • Prayer was an essential element of spiritual practices in the early church • Early Christians were a minority • Developed unique practices based on several sources • Jewish Religious Tradition • Circulation of early New Testament writings • Helped form the basic spiritual practices that define the Christian experience

  7. Movement to exile • When Christianity became a state religion practitioners moved outside of society • Felt that state religion weakened the spiritual practices of the church • Desert Fathers (3rd century) • Monastic movements • Evagrius of Pontus • Maximus the Confessor

  8. Spiritual Growth in Prayer • Three Stages to developing a mature prayer life • First Stage – Praktike – lifestyle changes, letting go of sinful attachments; gain virtues • Second Stage – Natural Contemplation – Seeing the work of God in the world rather than exploiting it; rejecting selfish desires (sin) • Third Stage – Theoria – Spiritual contemplation – Seeing God; ineffable experiences; participation in the divine reality

  9. Ascetic Practices • Training and Exercises that cultivate spirituality • Connection between physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of life • Embodied Spirituality • Increased concern on the role of the body and emotion in spiritual practices • Religion not a “disembodied” experience

  10. Ascetic Practices • Practices • Simplicity of Diet • Fasting • Prayer retreats • Manual labor • Simplify life in order to allow more room for God • Controlling and moderating desire (Not eliminating it) • Increases Freedom • Purifying Desire

  11. Contemporary Resources for Ascetic Practices

  12. Martin Luther and Prayer • Prayer was the most important spiritual practice • “the lifting of the heart or mind to God” (Luther 1519) • Helped in the discernment of the scriptures • Reason alone was insufficient for knowledge of God • Required spiritual experience through prayer

  13. Martin Luther and Prayer • Meditatio – prayerful reading of the scriptures • Oratio – Encountering the Holy Spirit • Promises of the Bible strengthen our faith • Recognize our need for God • Through prayer our hearts seek after God

  14. Martin Luther and Prayer • Tenatio or Anfechtung (Distress or testing) • A feeling of need (poverty of the spirit) • Increases our hope and faith in God • Genuine prayer should lead to right attitudes and actions • The primary subject of prayer should be God or others

  15. Modern Views of Prayer • Friedrich Heiler (1932) • Focused mainly on expressive forms of prayer • Prayer is mainly a conversation with God that involves an awareness of dependence and trust • Emotional; an outpouring of the heart • Formulaic or impersonal prayer dissolves this awareness • Two primary categories • Mystical (Subjective; individual) • Prophetic (Active; calling upon God)

  16. Modern Views of Prayer • Ann Ulanov • Jungian psychologist • Primary Speech (1982) • Prayer is a response to God of our inner emotions and desires • Begins in infancy • It is the primary expression of our true selves

  17. Modern Views of Prayer • Ann Ulanov • Dishonesty with ourselves detracts from honesty in prayer • Fear or doubt of God’s acceptance can limit our ability for spiritual growth in prayer • Must be willing to express our true selves • Anger, aggression, sexuality • Willing to confront distorted images of God or the self

  18. Modern Types of Prayer • Among US population (Poloma & Pendleton 1989, 1991) • Meditative – individual listening; attunement • Ritualistic – reciting prayers; liturgy • Petitionary – Asking for things from God • Colloquial – Conversations with God

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