How Could Prayer Make a Difference?
I critically respond to Scott A. Davison, Petitionary Prayer: A Philosophical Investigation. I attack his Contrastive Reasons Account of what it takes for a request to be answered and provide an alternative account on which a request is answered as long as it has deliberative weight for the person a...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Innsbruck in cooperation with the John Hick Centre for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Birmingham
[2018]
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| In: |
European journal for philosophy of religion
Year: 2018, Volume: 10, Issue: 2, Pages: 171-185 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Davison, Scott A. 1965-, Petitionary prayer
/ Intercession
/ Effect
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| RelBib Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism AG Religious life; material religion CB Christian life; spirituality |
| Further subjects: | B
Collective Action
B Value Theory B Ecclesiology B Petitionary Prayer B Reasons |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) Volltext (teilw. kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | I critically respond to Scott A. Davison, Petitionary Prayer: A Philosophical Investigation. I attack his Contrastive Reasons Account of what it takes for a request to be answered and provide an alternative account on which a request is answered as long as it has deliberative weight for the person asked. I also raise issues with Davison's dismissive treatment of direct divine communication. I then emphasize the importance of value theory for addressing the puzzles of petitionary prayer. Whether a defense of petitionary prayer is successful depends on whether it can support the sort of requests that are central to the theological practices of the religion in question, explaining how they could be known to be effective, and this depends on the value theory of the theology in question. As an example, I show the relevance the traditional distinction between temporal and spiritual goods could have for knowing whether one's prayers have been answered. How prayers could make a difference also depends on the theology in question, raising issues of ecclesiology and collective action that demand further attention. |
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| Item Description: | Im Inhaltsverzeichnis dieses Heftes wurde der Titel von Caleb M. Cohoe so angegeben: "How could prayer make a difference?: discussion of Scott A. Davison's "Petitionary prayer"" |
| Reference: | Kritik in "Requests and Responses (2018)"
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: European journal for philosophy of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.24204/ejpr.v10i2.2033 |