Table of Contents
1 Intimate and Reassuring Views of Prayer 3
Hands Bearing Gifts 6
"Little Samuel" 7
Heavenly Telephone 8
Votive Plaques 11
Millet's "Angelus" 14
Dionysiac Prayer 22
Self-Disciplinary Prayer 25
Irresponsible Prayer 27
The Prayer of Resignation 30
2 The Fragile Foundations of Prayer 35
The Natural Foundation 35
The Argument 35
Objections to the Naturalistic Argument 39
A Comment on Function 41
An Untrustworthy Foundation 43
The Religious Foundation 45
Pascal 45
Barth 47
The New Hermeneutic 50
The Inadequacy of Theology 52
Prayer as Language 53
The Problems 54
The Essence of Prayer 61
3 The Reasons for Not Praying 65
The Sociological Reasons 70
Secularization 71
The Climate of Reason and Skepticism 73
The Impracticality of Prayer 76
The Confusion of Prayer with Morality 80
The Breakdown of Language 82
The Theological Justifications 84
Man Come of Age 85
The Death of the Father 90
4 The Only Reason for Praying 99
The Commandment 102
Obedience 110
The Assertion of Freedom 120
5 Prayer as Combat 139
In an Age of Abandonment 140
Prayer and the Self 142
The Achievement of Religionlessness 146
The Only Weapon Against Falsehood 150
As Combat Against God 153
The Incognito of God 154
A Combat of Total Involvement 160
The Act of Hope 164
The Ultimate Act 167
Prayer and Social Participation 170
Prayer and History 175
