Prayer is an offering of communication or praise to a deity or deities. The existence of prayer is attested in written sources as early as 5000 years ago, and anthropologists believe that the earliest intelligent humans practised something that we would recognize today as prayer. It is considered futile by many atheists. There are many types of prayer, which are discussed below together with their respective religious traditions.
= Prayer practices: Introduction =
The actual act of praying can take on many different outward forms. Most religions or religious subgroups have certain forms that they recommend, usually more than one; occasionally, there may be specific forms that are forbidden. Prayer may be done privately and individually, or it may be done corporately in the presence of fellow believers. Some outward acts that sometimes accompany prayer are: ringing a bell; burning incense or paper; lighting a candle or candles; facing a specific direction (i.e. towards Mecca or the East); making the sign of the cross.
A variety of body postures may be assumed, often with specific meaning associated with them: standing; sitting; kneeling; prostrate on the floor; eyes opened; eyes closed; hands folded or clasped; hands upraised; and others. Prayers may be recited from memory, read from a book of prayers, or composed spontaneously as they are prayed. They may be said, chanted, or sung. They may be with musical accompaniment or not. 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.
= The Sources of Hebraic/Christian religious traditions =
In these traditions, prayer incorporates adoration, praise, petition, thanksgiving, intercession, and communion. These are all found within the Bible, which in both the Old and New Testaments contains many examples of prayer and various instructions and teachings about prayer.
David seems to regard himself as a prophet and priest, and prays without an intercessor (2 Sam7:18-29). The book of Psalms is composed of prayers, song verses and poems by various authors, with attribution to David, and has been used by Jews and Christians for centuries, in corporate and individual prayer. In the Psalms prayer takes the form of a pouring out of the heart (e.g. 42:4; 62:8; 100:2). The psalmist does not seem to go before God with fixed and orderly petitions so much as simply to pour out his feelings and desires, whether sweet or bitter, troubled or peaceful. Consequently the prayers of the Psalmist consist of varying moods: complaint, supplication, confession, despondency, praise. It is in the Psalmist that is rooted the tradition of daily public prayer made within the Church: "Seven times a day I have praised Thee" (119:164); also "Evening and morning, and at noonday will I speak and declare..." (55:18).
The prophets seem generally to have been intercessors, e.g., Elijah (1 Kgs18). Yet personal prayers are found among the prophets (Jer20 — both personal and intercessory; 33:3; 42:4; Amos7).
Seasonal prayers such as found in the Breviary, which provides prayer for each liturgical season including Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost, as well as the other parts of the liturgical year. The Breviary developed over the centuries. Different religious orders sometimes have their own breviaries.
Prayer to saints: in Catholic and Orthodox tradition, prayers of petition may be addressed to saints. This may be done at Mass, within the Breviary, or privately during vocal prayer (see below). It is understood that the saints answer such prayers by means of their own prayers to God on behalf of the petitioner. Catholics often refer to this in connection with the "treasury of merits"¹, and distinguish between latria, i.e. prayer of sacrifice due to God alone, and dulia, or prayer of praise due only to a creature such as a saint. Other Christians, mostly Protestants, reject the notion of prayer to saints, and feel that it leads to polytheism.
Prayer for the dead: Roman Catholics believe that prayers for the dead can diminish their suffering in Purgatory; for this reason, requiemMasseses are offered for the repose of the faithful departed. Eastern Orthodoxy rejects the notion of Purgatory, but offers prayers for the dead asking God to have mercy upon them; in particular it believes that Christians who have fallen asleep remain part of the Church, and as such are both able to pray and to receive the benefits of prayer for them, whatever those may be. Protestants have historically rejected the notion of prayer for the dead, believing that such prayers cannot affect the fate of departed souls. The appeal of this sort of prayer to those in mourning exerts constant pressure on this theological position, however. It is also possible to pray for the dead in one's private vocal prayer, without the prayer being part of a liturgy.
Vocal prayer, of course, is prayer made with the lips, normally producing sound. The Christian considers it necessary to make first some act of recollection. The sign of the cross is an important first step. Liturgical breviary prayer will normally entail prayers that (a) renounce distraction, (b) request to be worthy to be heard, (c) request enlightenment, and (d) request that one's prayers be united with the praises that Jesus offered, e.g. "whilst Thou wast on earth". If one is engaged in private prayer, a moment of recollection may be a question of placing oneself in the right disposition; in all cases the Christian strives to avoid mechanical prayer. Some prayers may nonetheless sound mechanical, yet the Christian is normally pondering on various levels while praying so that the prayer itself is not simply a moving of lips. The rosary is a good example: while repeating the Hail Mary there are mysteries of Jesus to be contemplated. The saints enjoin their fellow Catholics to "consider who it is that you are addressing" (St. Teresa of Avila) to be correctly disposed in prayer.
Vocal prayer may be prayer of petition, perhaps the simplest form of prayer. Some have termed it the "social approach" to prayer. In this view, a person beseeches God for a need to be fulfilled; God is thought to listen to prayer and to be free to grant the request or not. Vocal prayer may also subsume prayer of adoration, praise, thanksgiving, intercession, and communion. Particularly common vocal prayers include the Lord's Prayer; the Psalms; the Jesus Prayer; the Hail Mary; the Canticles throughout the Old and New Testaments; Grace, a prayer of thanksgiving usually before, sometimes after, a meal; and prayers associated with the rosary and the prayer rope.
In the past 100 years a form of prayer has regained popularity amongst Christians, called praying in tongues. According to practitioners, the Holy Spirit comes into the body of the person praying and speaks on the Christian's behalf in a celestial language. The person praying may later deny any knowledge of what they said while praying. If done in public, it may be followed by another person claiming to give an interpretation of the prophecy, also through the grace of the Holy Spirit. Some deny that this is a revival and suggest it is an innovation. A characteristic of this prayer pattern is that people will make unusual sounds or adopt unusual postures. For example, a person may emit shrieks, or may lie on the floor face-up with the hands in an askew posture. It is a prayer pattern that resembles quietism.
