1. Individual Spiritual Practices: Understanding Prayer
James A. Van Slyke
Individual Spiritual Practices: Understanding Prayer

2. Perspectives on Prayer
Prayer mainly associated with the Christian tradition (also Hindu and Buddhism)
Petitioning God
Meet basic needs (food or clothing)
Meet Spiritual needs (forgiveness, purity)
Ascent of the mind or soul towards God
Plotinus
Inward turn towards God
Conversation with God

3. Perspectives on Prayer
Expressive prayer
Sharing our emotions or desires with God
Usually involves speech (spoken or inner)
Praise (Kataphatic tradition)
Contemplative prayer
Letting Go
Creating space for God to speak
Silence (Apophatic tradition)

4. Teresa of Avila (1515-82) Christian mystic and nun
The Interior Castle (1577)
Prayer should be a transformative experience
Changes our perspective on the world
Moves us away from illusion
Liminal state – stuck between two states
Guilt and forgiveness
Provides space for transition

5. Relationality Moves us to a state of trust and dependence on God
More attuned to the needs of others
Connects us more deeply to others
Continual activity (“pray without ceasing”)
Provides a connection to God throughout the day
Sensing the relational presence of God

6. Prayer in the Christian Tradition
Prayer was an essential element of spiritual practices in the early church
Early Christians were a minority
Developed unique practices based on several sources
Jewish Religious Tradition
Circulation of early New Testament writings
Helped form the basic spiritual practices that define the Christian experience

7. Movement to exile
When Christianity became a state religion practitioners moved outside of society
Felt that state religion weakened the spiritual practices of the church
Desert Fathers (3rd century)
Monastic movements
Evagrius of Pontus
Maximus the Confessor

8. Spiritual Growth in Prayer
Three Stages to developing a mature prayer life
First Stage – Praktike – lifestyle changes, letting go of sinful attachments; gain virtues
Second Stage – Natural Contemplation – Seeing the work of God in the world rather than exploiting it; rejecting selfish desires (sin)
Third Stage – Theoria – Spiritual contemplation – Seeing God; ineffable experiences; participation in the divine reality

9. Ascetic Practices Training and Exercises that cultivate spirituality
Connection between physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of life
Embodied Spirituality
Increased concern on the role of the body and emotion in spiritual practices
Religion not a “disembodied” experience

10. Ascetic Practices Practices
Simplicity of Diet
Fasting
Prayer retreats
Manual labor
Simplify life in order to allow more room for God
Controlling and moderating desire (Not eliminating it)
Increases Freedom
Purifying Desire

11. Contemporary Resources for Ascetic Practices

12. Martin Luther and Prayer
Prayer was the most important spiritual practice
“the lifting of the heart or mind to God” (Luther 1519)
Helped in the discernment of the scriptures
Reason alone was insufficient for knowledge of God
Required spiritual experience through prayer

13. Martin Luther and Prayer
Meditatio – prayerful reading of the scriptures
Oratio – Encountering the Holy Spirit
Promises of the Bible strengthen our faith
Recognize our need for God
Through prayer our hearts seek after God

14. Martin Luther and Prayer
Tenatio or Anfechtung (Distress or testing)
A feeling of need (poverty of the spirit)
Increases our hope and faith in God
Genuine prayer should lead to right attitudes and actions
The primary subject of prayer should be God or others

15. Modern Views of Prayer Friedrich Heiler (1932) Two primary categories
Focused mainly on expressive forms of prayer
Prayer is mainly a conversation with God that involves an awareness of dependence and trust
Emotional; an outpouring of the heart
Formulaic or impersonal prayer dissolves this awareness
Two primary categories
Mystical (Subjective; individual)
Prophetic (Active; calling upon God)

16. Modern Views of Prayer Ann Ulanov Jungian psychologist
Primary Speech (1982)
Prayer is a response to God of our inner emotions and desires
Begins in infancy
It is the primary expression of our true selves

17. Modern Views of Prayer Ann Ulanov
Dishonesty with ourselves detracts from honesty in prayer
Fear or doubt of God’s acceptance can limit our ability for spiritual growth in prayer
Must be willing to express our true selves
Anger, aggression, sexuality
Willing to confront distorted images of God or the self

18. Modern Types of Prayer
Among US population (Poloma & Pendleton 1989, 1991)
Meditative – individual listening; attunement
Ritualistic – reciting prayers; liturgy
Petitionary – Asking for things from God
Colloquial – Conversations with God