Abstract
The present article discusses theological questions arisingthrough the phenomenon and praxis of prayer: What are the featuresof different genres of prayer such as praise and lament, confession andintercession, and how can the relation between semantics and pragmaticswithin the performance of prayer be characterized if the languageof prayer does not only embrace self-involving speech acts in an agonicprocess leading to the supplicant’s self-transformation, but also silentgestures, deeds and attitudes? What is the relation between speech andsilence in prayer? To what extent is it legitimate to determine prayer asa ‘dialogue’ with God? Given that God does not speak with a ‘voice’that can be heard acoustically, the question is also how one can knowwhether it is God or someone else ‘speaking’ to a person. Texts by Luther,Kierkegaard, Levinas, Derrida, Chrétien, Wittgenstein, Phillips,Casper and Brümmer provide the basis for this discussion.
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