Understanding of Prayer

Understanding of Prayer Paper

You should read Marjorie Suchocki’s book, In God’s Presence: Theological Reflections on Prayer. In dialogue with the book you will compose a paper stating, as clearly as you are able at this point in your life and theological education, your understanding of prayer. You are not required to agree with everything that Suchocki has to say about prayer, but your paper should reflect a deep and careful engagement with Suchocki’s work, citing it where appropriate and stating reasons for agreement or disagreement with her points.
As with any piece of formal writing, your paper should state a thesis (in this case, it should be framed as a statement about your understanding of what prayer is or does) with supporting arguments. You may refer to other sources in addition to Suchocki, but you are not required to do extensive research beyond the course reading list. You may include personal recollections about how you learned to pray, understandings of prayer that have been handed on to you in your family system or your religious formation, questions you have wrestled with in relation to prayer at various stages of your life, significant prayer experiences, etc. Your personal reflections should be integrated into the development of your arguments about the nature of prayer.
Some guidelines:

o What is prayer?
o What do you expect to happen when you pray?
o How does prayer “work” (i.e., its forms, its outcomes, does it change anyone or anything? Etc.)
o How do you understand divine agency? (i.e., how God acts in the world)
o How do you understand the divine-human relationship?
o How does the reality of evil and suffering implicate your understanding of prayer?