Prayer as God knowledge (via self)
Abstract
What is the purpose of prayer? According to Kierkegaard, “prayer does not change God, but it changes the one who prays.” Whilst much contemporary philosophy of religion focuses on the so-called puzzle of petitionary prayer, less is written about how prayer can change the person who prays. In this paper, I discuss Kierkegaard’s account of prayer in The Sickness unto Death and “An Occasional Discourse on the Occasion of Confession.” Prayer, as it is presented here, allows a person to gain a certain kind of self-knowledge and thereby draw near to God. After outlining Kierkegaard’s account, I draw some comparisons with Harry Frankfurt’s account of the will to demonstrate how prayer might allow for both self-knowledge as well as God-knowledge.
Citation
Cockayne , J 2017 , ' Prayer as God knowledge (via self) ' , Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook , vol. 2017 , no. 1 , pp. 101-114 . https://doi.org/10.1515/kierke-2017-0005
Publication
Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook
Status
Peer reviewed
Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2017 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the final published version of the work, which was originally published at https://doi.org/10.1515/kierke-2017-0005
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