A Critical Study of D. Z. Phillip's View on Prayer

Prayer is one standpoint appearing from Phillips` unepistemic approach. As he believes, prayer may not be speaking to a real and objective god; rather, prayer means becoming aware of self`s position. Another base of prayer lies in the concept of dependence; that is followers of religion know all their existential dignities, good or bad, to be bestowed by God and, therefore, praise Him while not expecting from Him to interfere to their conditions, and not given such being the case, their prayers would become untrue. This view is to be studied from two reasons: one lies in objections against his theology and the other in his meaning of prayer. Some of his most important points in the latter consist in: 1. on his meaning, most of religious people would be superstitious; 2. his view comes from enlightenment age and, therefore, lacks historical comprehension; 3. it is necessary to distinguish between religious actions and metaphysical views. The religious people act contrary to their metaphysical views and such a disagreement would not be counted as a failure at all. Therefore, lack of propositional harmony in religion may be regarded as common and thus one may not negate divine interfere for such a lack.