Praying in the Name of Christ

Abstract

This chapter argues that Friedrich Schleiermacher’s “mystical” account of prayer offers a viable theological and philosophical alternative to traditional accounts of so-called “petitionary” prayer. To substantiate this claim, the chapter (i) situates the practice of prayer in its analytic context, (ii) responds to objections to the claim that analytic theology has nothing to offer to an account of prayer, (iii) examines two frequently applied philosophical and theological methodologies (the “from below” and “from above” approaches) used in discussions of prayer, and (iv) provides a third way forward found in Friedrich Schleiermacher’s constructive account of prayer, which walks the fine line between a “magical” view, on the one hand, and an “empirical” view, on the other. It then highlights the key features of Schleiermacher’s account of prayer (as found in his The Christian Faith and sermon “The Power of Prayer in Relation to Outward Circumstances”), noting the connection of Schleiermacher’s view to other theological loci and responding to potential objections to and tensions in the described “mystical” view.