Phenomenology of Prayer 1: Skylar Minick

 A reflection of the Prayer as Kenosis chapter: 

        As a non-religious person I found this chapter to be very interesting. I have never really taken part in prayer even when I was going to church, because I did not even know where to start. I feel like this chapter perfectly encapsulated that confusion of praying for the wrong things or not knowing what to pray/how to pray for it and certain parts really stood out to me. On the very first page the book mentions how many pray for things such as victory or promotion with complete disregard to the losers in those situations. This stood out to me because that is something I have heard a lot of people talking about praying for such as winning a sports game or passing a test and even I have partaken in that without even believing in a God at all. It is extremely inconsiderate to the less fortunate in that situation and this cast light upon that. Another thing that stood out to me was the concept of the earthly economy by Plato I believe, saying that a system of exchange is how this world works and people bring that into their prayer even though God is supposed to be an other worldly being. Like when people offer things in their prayer such as saying if God relieves their sickness they will never drink alcohol again or whatever sin caused them to be compromised. And how when asking in prayer like the example I just gave you are asking to either be brought out of the earthly economy which is impossible for humans because that is how the world works or you are asking God to be brought into it which is absurd because she is not a good we can consume and is supposed to be above such a concept. All of this explains why kenosis or self-emptying is so important because then it removes the roadblock of the earthly economy completely. For the prayer it allows the holy to present itself and for the divine it allows God into the world by virtue of having emptied herself. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rob Baron Outside Reading #2

Pilgrimages in the Bible (New Testament) In the new testament part of the bible, there is a common theme that is in multiple parts of different books. The book of Mathew talks about how salvation is found for a limited time only before Jesus Christ returns. This time is said to be at a totally unexpected time and is called the last judgment. John, 1 Corinthians, and James all back this up by saying prepare themselves for God’s verdict on how they lived. People are supposed to think of themselves as pilgrims and temporary residents as their true home is in heaven. It is said that their life is a pilgrimage with the final destination of heaven.
Read more

Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture (2): Skylar Minick

 Chapter 6:          At the beginning of this chapter Turner talks about the resurgence of Marian pilgrimages and images. Especially in the nineteenth century there was such an abundance of art focusing on Mary and her baby Jesus. I am currently taking an art history class as well and Mary and her child was a major major theme in art around those time periods, People were fascinated with her purity and obviously the holiness of her son. This was such an important event because it seemed to provide a link between humanity and the divinity of the holy God. Every other divine creature is invisible, not to be seen, heard or even have a proven  existence which obviously creates problems because it is impossible to know when or if one's prayer has been heard, making communication to the sacred very difficult. This must explain why pilgrimages begin when there is signs or "evidence" of a supernatural quality or being. The church of El...
Read more

Rob Baron Outside Reading #3

Israelites leaving Egypt   One of the great journeys that were told in the bible was the story of Israelites leaving Egypt. The reason for them leaving was because they were enslaved and Moses lead them out. Throughout the journey, God was in their presence as he parted the red sea and many other things. When they reach Mount Sinai God speaks to Moses and made a deal with the Jews.
Read more