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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 thanksgiving or praise , and in comparative religion is closely associated with more abstract forms of meditation and with charms or spells .

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78-716: Morning Prayer may refer to: Religion [ edit ] Prayers in various traditions said during the morning Morning Prayer (Anglican) , one of the two main Daily Offices in the churches of the Anglican Communion In Roman Catholicism: Morning offering of Catholicism Matins , general name for midnight or morning canonical hour in Western Christianity, also known as Sapro in other rites Lauds ,

156-472: A human cultural universal , which would have been present since the emergence of behavioral modernity , by anthropologists such as Sir Edward Burnett Tylor and Sir James George Frazer . Reliable records are available for the polytheistic religions of the Iron Age , most notably Ancient Greek religion , which strongly influenced Roman religion . These religious traditions were direct developments of

234-753: A divine office that takes place in the early morning hours Fajr of Islam Shacharit in Jewish Services Other uses [ edit ] Morning Prayer (album) , a 1978 album by jazz saxophonist Chico Freeman See also [ edit ] [REDACTED] Search for "morning prayer" on Misplaced Pages. [REDACTED] Wikisource has original text related to this article: Morning Prayer List of prayers All pages with titles beginning with Morning Prayer All pages with titles containing Morning Prayer Prayer (disambiguation) Morning (disambiguation) Mourning (disambiguation) Topics referred to by

312-591: A form of prayer. Hindus chant mantras. Jewish prayer may involve swaying back and forth and bowing. Muslim prayer involves bowing, kneeling and prostration , while some Sufis whirl . Quakers often keep silent. Some pray according to standardized rituals and liturgies, while others prefer extemporaneous prayers; others combine the two. Christian circles often look to Friedrich Heiler (1892-1967), whose systematic Typology of Prayer lists six types of prayer: primitive, ritual, Greek cultural, philosophical, mystical, and prophetic. Some forms of prayer require

390-485: A god. Some people pray throughout all that is happening during the day and seek guidance as the day progresses. This is actually regarded as a requirement in several Christian denominations, although enforcement is neither possible nor desirable. There can be many different answers to prayer, just as there are many ways to interpret an answer to a question, if there in fact comes an answer. Some may experience audible, physical, or mental epiphanies. If indeed an answer comes,

468-554: A more positive outlook, and strengthen the will to live." Other practices such as yoga , tai chi , and meditation may also have a positive impact on physical and psychological health. A 2001 study by Meisenhelder and Chandler analyzed data obtained from 1,421 Presbyterian pastors surveyed by mail and found that their self-reported frequency of prayer was well-correlated with their self-perception of health and vitality. This research methodology has inherent problems with self-selection , selection bias , and residual confounding , and

546-461: A more standardized form, although still radically different from the form practiced by modern Jews . Individual prayer is described by the Tanakh two ways. The first of these is when prayer is described as occurring, and a result is achieved, but no further information regarding a person's prayer is given. In these instances, such as with Isaac , Moses , Samuel , and Job , the act of praying

624-420: A musical accompaniment. There may be a time of outward silence while prayers are offered mentally. Often, there are prayers to fit specific occasions, such as the blessing of a meal , the birth or death of a loved one, other significant events in the life of a believer, or days of the year that have special religious significance. Details corresponding to specific traditions are outlined below. Anthropologically,

702-497: A person knows that he or she is being prayed for it can be uplifting and increase morale, thus aiding recovery. (See Subject-expectancy effect .) Studies have suggested that prayer can reduce psychological stress, regardless of the god or gods a person prays to, a result that is consistent with a variety of hypotheses as to what may cause such an effect. According to a study by CentraState Healthcare System , "the psychological benefits of prayer may help reduce stress and anxiety, promote

780-497: A person of the need to take active measures. This potential drawback manifests in extreme forms in such cases as Christian Scientists who rely on prayers instead of seeking medical treatment for family members for easily curable conditions which later result in death. Christopher Hitchens (2012) argued that praying to a god which is omnipotent and all-knowing would be presumptuous. For example, he interprets Ambrose Bierce 's definition of prayer by stating that "the man who prays

858-618: A person to focus on divinity through philosophy and intellectual contemplation. This approach was taken by Maimonides and the other medieval rationalists. One example of this approach to prayer is noted by Rabbi Steven Weil, who was appointed the Orthodox Union's Executive-Vice President in 2009. He notes that the word "prayer" is a derivative of the Latin "precari", which means "to beg". The Hebrew equivalent "tefilah", however, along with its root "pelel" or its reflexive "l'hitpallel", means

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936-459: A pig in order to placate the god or goddess of the place and beseech his or her permission to cut down some trees from the grove. Celtic , Germanic and Slavic religions are recorded much later, and much more fragmentarily, than the religions of classical antiquity. They nevertheless show substantial parallels to the better-attested religions of the Iron Age. In the case of Germanic religion,

1014-411: A prior ritualistic form of cleansing or purification, such as in ghusl and wudhu . Prayer may occur privately and individually (sometimes called affective prayer ), or collectively, shared by or led on behalf of fellow-believers of either a specific faith tradition or a broader grouping of people. Prayer can be incorporated into a daily "thought life", in which one is in constant communication with

1092-485: A response to prayer, the 18th-century philosopher William Paley wrote: To pray for particular favors is to dictate to Divine Wisdom, and savors of presumption; and to intercede for other individuals or for nations, is to presume that their happiness depends upon our choice, and that the prosperity of communities hangs upon our interest. During the 20th century, philosopher Bertrand Russell believed that religion and science "have long been at war, claiming for themselves

1170-412: A significant minority of people still hold to this approach. In a rationalist approach, praying encompasses three aspects. First, ' logos ', as the "idea" of the sender, secondly ' rhemata ' as the words to express the idea, and thirdly 'rhemata' and 'logos', to where the idea is sent (e.g. to God, Allah ). Thus praying is not a conversation with God, or Jesus but a one-way direction to the divine. Among

1248-496: A simple experiment to settle the issue: Get a billion Christians to pray for a single amputee. Get them to pray that God regrow that missing limb. This happens to salamanders every day, presumably without prayer; this is within the capacity of God. I find it interesting that people of faith only tend to pray for conditions that are self-limiting. Religious and philosophical objections to the very study of prayer's efficacy exist. Some interpret Deuteronomy (6:16 "You shall not put

1326-405: A small bag of sacred meal. There are different forms of prayer. One of them is to directly appeal to a deity to grant one's requests. Some have termed this as the social approach to prayer. Atheist arguments against prayer are mostly directed against petitionary prayer in particular. Daniel Dennett argued that petitionary prayer might have the undesirable psychological effect of relieving

1404-477: A term called "religious experience" in his book, The Varieties of Religious Experience . The origins of the use of this term can be dated further back. In the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, several historical figures put forth very influential views that religion and its beliefs can be grounded in experience itself. While Kant held that moral experience justified religious beliefs , John Wesley in addition to stressing individual moral exertion thought that

1482-491: Is fasting . A variety of body postures may be assumed, often with specific meaning (mainly respect or adoration) associated with them: standing; sitting; kneeling; prostrate on the floor; eyes opened; eyes closed; hands folded or clasped ; hands upraised; holding hands with others; a laying on of hands and others. Prayers may be recited from memory, read from a book of prayers, or composed spontaneously or "impromptu". They may be said, chanted, or sung. They may or may not have

1560-531: Is a method of changing a situation for the better. The second way in which prayer is depicted is through fully fleshed out episodes of prayer, where a person's prayer is related in full. Many famous biblical personalities have such a prayer, including every major character from Hannah to Hezekiah . In the New Testament prayer is presented as a positive command. The People of God are challenged to include Christian prayer in their everyday life, even in

1638-546: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Prayer 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

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1716-518: Is expressed by Rabbi Nosson Scherman in the overview to the Artscroll Siddur (p. XIII). Among Christian theologians, E.M. Bounds stated the educational purpose of prayer in every chapter of his book, The Necessity of Prayer . Prayer books such as the Book of Common Prayer are both a result of this approach and an exhortation to keep it. In this view, the ultimate goal of prayer

1794-525: Is expressed by Rabbi Nosson Scherman in the overview to the Artscroll Siddur (p. XIII); note that Scherman goes on to also affirm the Kabbalistic view (see below). Efficacy of prayer The efficacy of prayer has been studied since at least 1872, generally through experiments to determine whether prayer or intercessory prayer has a measurable effect on the health of

1872-568: Is from Medieval Latin : precaria , lit.   'petition, prayer'. The Vulgate Latin is oratio , which translates Greek προσευχή in turn the Septuagint translation of Biblical Hebrew תְּפִלָּה tĕphillah . Various spiritual traditions offer a wide variety of devotional acts. There are morning and evening prayers, graces said over meals , and reverent physical gestures. Some Christians bow their heads and fold their hands. Some Native Americans regard dancing as

1950-473: Is full of archaisms and difficult passages. Roman prayers and sacrifices were envisioned as legal bargains between deity and worshipper. The Roman principle was expressed as do ut des : "I give, so that you may give." Cato the Elder 's treatise on agriculture contains many examples of preserved traditional prayers; in one, a farmer addresses the unknown deity of a possibly sacred grove, and sacrifices

2028-727: Is increasingly used as a coping mechanism for patients. In a debate/interview in Newsweek with Christian evangelical Rick Warren , atheist Sam Harris commented that most lay perceptions of the efficacy of prayer (personal impressions as opposed to empirical studies) were related to sampling error because "we know that humans have a terrible sense of probability." That is, humans are more inclined to recognize confirmations of their faith than they are to recognize disconfirmations. Harris also criticized existing empirical studies for limiting themselves to prayers for relatively unmiraculous events, such as recovery from heart surgery. He suggested

2106-432: Is mediated by intellectual and cognitive activity. The specific teachings and practices of a specific tradition may even determine what "experience" someone has, which means that this "experience" is not the proof of the teaching, but a result of the teaching. A pure consciousness without concepts, reached by "cleaning the doors of perception", would be an overwhelming chaos of sensory input without coherence. In

2184-452: Is not the way they usually conduct prayer: Prior to the start of this study, intercessors reported that they usually receive information about the patient's age, gender and progress reports on their medical condition; converse with family members or the patient (not by fax from a third party); use individualized prayers of their own choosing; and pray for a variable time period based on patient or family request. With respect to expectation of

2262-413: Is preferred over solitary prayer, and a quorum of ten adult males (a minyan ) is considered by Orthodox Judaism a prerequisite for several communal prayers. There are also many other ritualistic prayers a Jew performs during their day, such as washing before eating bread, washing after one wakes up in the morning, and doing grace after meals. In this view, the ultimate goal of prayer is to help train

2340-499: Is read aloud; the passage is meditated upon using the mind to place the listener within a relationship or dialogue with the text; recitation of a prayer; and concludes with contemplation . The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes prayer and meditation as follows: Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt

2418-553: Is that prayer has become a popular therapeutic method for which there is no known plausible mechanism." Medical professionals are skeptical of new claims by studies until they have been experimentally reproduced and corroborated. For instance, a 2001 study by researchers associated with Columbia University has been associated with controversy, following claims of success in the popular media. Although different medical studies have been at odds with one another, physicians have not stopped studying prayer. This may be partly because prayer

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2496-434: Is the one who thinks that god has arranged matters all wrong, but who also thinks that he can instruct god how to put them right." In this view, prayer is not a conversation. Rather, it is meant to inculcate certain attitudes in the one who prays, but not to influence. Among Jews, this has been the approach of Rabbenu Bachya, Rabbi Yehuda Halevi , Joseph Albo , Samson Raphael Hirsch , and Joseph B. Soloveitchik . This view

2574-487: Is to help train a person to focus on divinity through philosophy and intellectual contemplation ( meditation ). This approach was taken by the Jewish scholar and philosopher Maimonides and the other medieval rationalists. It became popular in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic intellectual circles, but never became the most popular understanding of prayer among the laity in any of these faiths. In all three of these faiths today,

2652-653: The Annals of Internal Medicine in 2000 looked at 2774 patients in 23 studies, and found that 13 studies showed statistically significant positive results, 9 studies showed no effect, and 1 study showed a negative result. A 2003 levels of evidence review found evidence for the hypothesis that "Being prayed for improves physical recovery from acute illness". It concluded that although "a number of studies" have tested this hypothesis, "only three have sufficient rigor for review here" (Byrd 1988, Harris et al. 1999, and Sicher et al. 1998). In all three, "the strongest findings were for

2730-752: The kami , rather than lengthy praises or devotions. The practice of votive offering is universal and is attested at least since the Bronze Age. In Shinto, this takes the form of a small wooden tablet, called an ema . Prayers in Etruscan were used in the Roman world by augurs and other oracles long after Etruscan became a dead language. The Carmen Arvale and the Carmen Saliare are two specimens of partially preserved prayers that seem to have been unintelligible to their scribes and whose language

2808-658: The Abrahamic religions , Islam , Orthodox Christianity and Hasidic Judaism are likely most adhering to this concept, also because it does not allow secondary mythologies, and has taken its spiritual roots from Hellenistic philosophy , particularly from Aristotle . Similarly in Hinduism , the different divinities are manifestations of one God with associated prayers. However, many Indians – particularly Hindus – believe that God can be manifest in people, including in people of lower castes, such as Sadhus . In this approach,

2886-482: The Book of James says that the lack of blessings in life results from a failure to pray. Jesus healed through prayer and expected his followers to do so also. The apostle Paul wrote to the churches of Thessalonica to "Pray continually." Observant Jews pray three times a day, Shacharit , Mincha , and Ma'ariv with lengthier prayers on special days, such as the Shabbat and Jewish holidays including Musaf and

2964-630: The Merseburg Incantations , the latter recorded in the 9th or 10th century but of much older traditional origins. In Australian Aboriginal mythology , prayers to the "Great Wit" are performed by the "clever men" and "clever women", or kadji . These Aboriginal shamans use maban or mabain, the material that is believed to give them their powers. The Pueblo Indians are known to have used prayer sticks , that is, sticks with feathers attached as supplicatory offerings. The Hopi Indians used prayer sticks as well, but they attached to it

3042-415: The 2006 STEP project, found no significant differences in patients recovering from heart surgery whether the patients were prayed for or not. The third party studies reported either null results, correlated results, or contradictory results in which beneficiaries of prayer had worsened health outcomes. For instance, a meta-analysis of several studies related to distant intercessory healing published in

3120-584: The Hebrew Bible prayer is an evolving means of interacting with God , most frequently through a spontaneous, individual, unorganized form of petitioning and/or thanking. Standardized prayer such as is done today is non-existent, although beginning in Deuteronomy , the Bible lays the groundwork for organized prayer, including basic liturgical guidelines, and by the Bible's later books, prayer has evolved to

3198-660: The Lord your God to the test" ) to mean that prayer cannot, or should not, be examined. The religious viewpoint objects to the claim that prayer is susceptible to experimental designs or statistical analysis, and other assumptions in many experiments, e.g. that a thousand prayers are statistically different from one. The objections also include the complaint that religion generally deals with unique, uncontrollable events; statistics, and science in general, deal with recurring phenomena which are possible to sample or control and are susceptible to general laws. Religious objections also include

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3276-558: The STEP experiment's negative results "on the grounds that God answers prayers only if they are offered up for good reasons", finds one predictable result of prayer: Other theologians joined NOMA -inspired sceptics in contending that studying prayer in this way is a waste of money because supernatural influences are by definition beyond the reach of science. But as the Templeton Foundation correctly recognized when it financed

3354-434: The act of self-analysis or self-evaluation. This approach is sometimes described as the person praying having a dialogue or conversation with God. In this view, prayer is not a conversation. Rather, it is meant to inculcate certain attitudes in the one who prays, but not to influence. This has been the approach of Rabbenu Bachya, Yehuda Halevy , Joseph Albo , Samson Raphael Hirsch , and Joseph Dov Soloveitchik . This view

3432-456: 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 practised 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. The English term prayer

3510-515: The authors admitted that the direction of perceived prayer and health relationships "remains inconclusive due to the limits of the correlational research design". Various controlled studies have addressed the topic of the efficacy of prayer at least since Francis Galton in 1872, which spawned an entire series of commentary-debates that lasted for several years. Carefully monitored studies of prayer are relatively scarce with $ 5 million spent worldwide on such research each year. The largest study, from

3588-420: The beginning high medieval period, presumably adopted from a gesture of feudal homage. Although prayer in its literal sense is not used in animism , communication with the spirit world is vital to the animist way of life. This is usually accomplished through a shaman who, through a trance , gains access to the spirit world and then shows the spirits' thoughts to the people. Other ways to receive messages from

3666-563: The busy struggles of marriage as it brings people closer to God . Jesus encouraged his disciples to pray in secret in their private rooms, using the Lord's Prayer , as a humble response to the prayer of the Pharisees , whose practices in prayer were regarded as impious by the New Testament writers. For evangelists and other Christian sects , prayer is shown to be God's appointed method by which we obtain what He has to bestow. Further,

3744-408: The complaint that as prayer starts to be measured, it is no longer real prayer once it gets involved in an experiment and that the concept of conducting prayer experiments reflects a misunderstanding of the purpose of prayer. The 2006 STEP experiment indicated that some of the intercessors who took part in it complained about the scripted nature of the prayers that were imposed to them, saying that this

3822-430: The concept of experiential religion or mystical experience because of a long history or authors living and writing about experience with the divine in a manner that identifies God as unknowable and ineffable, the language of such ideas could be characterized paradoxically as "experiential", as well as without the phenomena of experience. The notion of "religious experience" can be traced back to William James , who used

3900-412: The concept of prayer is closely related to that of surrender and supplication . The traditional posture of prayer in medieval Europe is kneeling or supine with clasped hands, in antiquity more typically with raised hands. The early Christian prayer posture was standing, looking up to heaven, with outspread arms and bare head. This is the pre-Christian, pagan prayer posture (except for the bare head, which

3978-507: The concern that the public is increasingly trusting in pseudoscience such as astrology, UFOs and alien abduction, extrasensory perception, channeling the dead, faith healing, and psychic hotlines. Robert Cogan (1998). Critical Thinking: Step by Step . University Press of America. p.  217 . ISBN   9780761810674 . Faith healing is probably the most dangerous pseudoscience. Leonard, Bill J. ; Crainshaw, Jill Y. (2013). Encyclopedia of Religious Controversies in

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4056-534: The conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ. Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary . This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him. The experience of God within Christian mysticism has been contrasted with

4134-757: The earlier Bronze Age religions . Ceremonial prayer was highly formulaic and ritualized . In ancient polytheism, ancestor worship is indistinguishable from theistic worship (see also euhemerism ). Vestiges of ancestor worship persist, to a greater or lesser extent, in modern religious traditions throughout the world, most notably in Japanese Shinto , Vietnamese folk religion , and Chinese folk religion . The practices involved in Shinto prayer are heavily influenced by Buddhism; Japanese Buddhism has also been strongly influenced by Shinto in turn. Shinto prayers quite frequently consist of wishes or favors asked of

4212-595: The experience, including certain physiological outcomes. An example of a study on meditative prayer was the Bernardi study in the British Medical Journal in 2001. It reported that by praying the rosary or reciting yoga mantras at specific rates, baroreflex sensitivity increased significantly in cardiovascular patients. A study published in 2008 used Eysenck 's dimensional model of personality based on neuroticism and psychoticism to assess

4290-419: The goddesses Þorgerðr Hölgabrúðr and Irpa . Folk religion in the medieval period produced syncretisms between pre-Christian and Christian traditions. An example is the 11th-century Anglo-Saxon charm Æcerbot for the fertility of crops and land, or the medical Wið færstice . The 8th-century Wessobrunn Prayer has been proposed as a Christianized pagan prayer and compared to the pagan Völuspá and

4368-566: The gods and the earth after being woken by the hero Sigurd . A prayer to Odin is mentioned in chapter   2 of the Völsunga saga where King Rerir prays for a child. In stanza   9 of the poem Oddrúnargrátr , a prayer is made to "kind wights , Frigg and Freyja , and many gods, In chapter 21 of Jómsvíkinga saga , wishing to turn the tide of the Battle of Hjörungavágr , Haakon Sigurdsson eventually finds his prayers answered by

4446-474: The mental health of high school students based on their self-reported frequency of prayer. For students both in Catholic and Protestant schools, higher levels of prayer were associated with better mental health as measured by lower psychoticism scores. However, among pupils attending Catholic schools, higher levels of prayer were also associated with higher neuroticism scores. It has also been suggested that if

4524-496: The period in-between world wars – famously rejected by Karl Barth . In the 20th century, religious as well as moral experience as justification for religious beliefs still holds sway. Some influential modern scholars holding this liberal theological view are Charles Raven and the Oxford physicist/theologian Charles Coulson . The notion of "religious experience" was adopted by many scholars of religion, of whom William James

4602-463: The person for whom prayer is offered. A study in 2006 indicates that intercessory prayer in cardiac bypass patients had no discernible effects. While some religious groups argue that the power of prayer is obvious, others question whether it is possible to measure its effect. Dr. Fred Rosner , an authority on Jewish medical ethics , has expressed doubt that prayer could ever be subject to empirical analysis. Basic philosophical questions bear upon

4680-406: The practice of prayer is reliably attested, but no actual liturgy is recorded from the early (Roman era) period. An Old Norse prayer is on record in the form of a dramatization in skaldic poetry . This prayer is recorded in stanzas   2 and   3 of the poem Sigrdrífumál , compiled in the 13th century Poetic Edda from earlier traditional sources, where the valkyrie Sigrdrífa prays to

4758-623: The purpose of prayer is to enable the person praying to gain a direct experience of the recipient of the prayer (or as close to direct as a specific theology permits). This approach is very significant in Christianity and widespread in Judaism (although less popular theologically). In Eastern Orthodoxy , this approach is known as hesychasm . It is also widespread in Sufi Islam, and in some forms of mysticism . It has some similarities with

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4836-690: The question of the efficacy of prayer – for example, whether statistical inference and falsifiability are sufficient to "prove" or to "disprove" anything, and whether the topic is even within the realm of science . According to The Washington Post , "...prayer is the most common complement to mainstream medicine, far outpacing acupuncture, herbs, vitamins and other alternative remedies." In comparison to other fields that have been scientifically studied, carefully monitored studies of prayer are relatively few. The field remains tiny, with about $ 5 million spent worldwide on such research each year. Studies can verify that those who pray are affected by

4914-401: The rationalist approach, since it can also involve contemplation , although the contemplation is not generally viewed as being as rational or intellectual. Christian and Roman Catholic traditions also include an experiential approach to prayer within the practice of lectio divina . Historically a Benedictine practice, lectio divina involves the following steps: a short scripture passage

4992-568: The reading of the Torah . The siddur is the prayerbook used by Jews all over the world, containing a set order of daily prayers. Jewish prayer is usually described as having two aspects: kavanah (intention) and keva (the ritualistic, structured elements). The most important Jewish prayers are the Shema Yisrael ("Hear O Israel") and the Amidah ("the standing prayer"). Communal prayer

5070-549: The religious experiences in the Methodist movement (paralleling the Romantic Movement ) were foundational to religious commitment as a way of life. According to catholic doctrine , Methodists lack a ritualistic and rational approach to praying but rely on individualistic and moralistic forms of worship in direct conversation with God. This approach is rejected by most Orthodox religions . Wayne Proudfoot traces

5148-498: The results of individual studies suggest a positive effect of intercessory prayer, the majority do not". The authors concluded: "We are not convinced that further trials of this intervention should be undertaken and would prefer to see any resources available for such a trial used to investigate other questions in health care". An article in the Medical Journal of Australia says that "One common criticism of prayer research

5226-423: The review noted that the three most methodologically rigorous studies failed to produce significant findings. Most scientists dismiss " faith healing " practitioners. Believers assert that faith healing makes no scientific claims and thus should be treated as a matter of faith that is not testable by science. Critics reply that claims of medical cures should be tested scientifically because, although faith in

5304-575: The roots of the notion of "religious experience" to the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834), who argued that religion is based on a feeling of the infinite. The notion of "religious experience" was used by Schleiermacher and Albert Ritschl to defend religion against the growing scientific and secular critique, and defend the view that human (moral and religious) experience justifies religious beliefs . Such religious empiricism would be later seen as highly problematic and was – during

5382-425: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Morning Prayer . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Morning_Prayer&oldid=1233197879 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

5460-572: The same territory, ideas and allegiances". He also believed that the war had been decisively won by science. Almost 40 years earlier, a 22-year-old Russell also wrote: "For although I had long ceased to believe in the efficacy of prayer, I was so lonely and so in need of some supporter such as the Christian God, that I took to saying prayers again when I ceased to believe in their efficacy." The 21st-century evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins , describing how Richard Swinburne explained away

5538-534: The spirits include using astrology or contemplating fortune tellers and healers. Some of the oldest extant literature, such as the Kesh temple hymn (c. 26th century BC), is liturgy addressed to deities and thus technically "prayer". The Egyptian Pyramid Texts of about the same period similarly contain spells or incantations addressed to the gods. In the loosest sense, in the form of magical thinking combined with animism , prayer has been argued as representing

5616-691: The study, the alleged power of intercessory prayer is at least in principle within the reach of science. A double-blind experiment can be done and was done. It could have yielded a positive result. And if it had, can you imagine that a single religious apologist would have dismissed it on the grounds that scientific research has no bearing on religious matters? Of course not. Pitt, Joseph C.; Pera, Marcello (2012). Rational Changes in Science: Essays on Scientific Reasoning . Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN   9789400937796 . Retrieved 18 April 2018 . Such examples of pseudoscience as

5694-462: The supernatural is not in itself usually considered to be the purview of science, claims of reproducible effects are nevertheless subject to scientific investigation. Scientists and doctors generally find that faith healing lacks biological plausibility or epistemic warrant, which is one of the criteria used to judge whether clinical research is ethical and financially justified. A Cochrane review of intercessory prayer found "although some of

5772-575: The theory of biorhythms, astrology, dianetics, creationism, faith healing may seem too obvious examples of pseudoscience for academic readers. Zerbe, Michael J. (2007). Composition and the Rhetoric of Science: Engaging the Dominant Discourse . SIU Press. p. 86. ISBN   9780809327409 . [T]he authors of the 2002 National Science Foundation Science and Engineering Indicators devoted and entire section of their report to

5850-477: The time and place it comes is considered random. Some traditions distinguish between contemplative and meditative prayer. Outward acts that may accompany prayer include anointing with oil ; ringing a bell; burning incense or paper; lighting a candle or candles; facing a specific direction (e.g., towards Mecca or the East ); and making the sign of the cross . One less noticeable act related to prayer

5928-526: The variables that were evaluated most subjectively", raising concerns about the possible inadvertent unmasking of the outcomes' assessors. Other meta-studies of the broader literature have been performed showing evidence only for no effect or a potentially small effect. For instance, a 2006 meta analysis on 14 studies concluded that there is "no discernible effect" while a 2007 systemic review of intercessory prayer reported inconclusive results, noting that 7 of 17 studies had "small, but significant, effect sizes" but

6006-569: Was prescribed for males in I Corinthians 11:4, in Roman paganism, the head had to be covered in prayer). Certain Cretan and Cypriote figures of the Late Bronze Age, with arms raised, have been interpreted as worshippers. Their posture is similar to the "flight" posture, a crouching posture with raised hands related to the universal "hands up" gesture of surrender. The kneeling posture with clasped hands appears to have been introduced only with

6084-478: Was the most influential. The notion of "experience" has been criticised. Robert Sharf points out that "experience" is a typical Western term, which has found its way into Asian religiosity via western influences. The notion of "experience" introduces a false notion of duality between "experiencer" and "experienced", whereas the essence of kensho is the realisation of the "non-duality" of observer and observed. "Pure experience" does not exist; all experience

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