Kinnaman- Phenomenology of Prayer Ch.1

Merold Westphal writes of prayer as the posture of the decentered self. Westphal’s thesis is that “prayer is a deep, quite possibly the deepest decentering of the self, deep enough to begin dismantling or, […], deconstructing that burning preoccupation with [one’s self]”.  Westphal focuses on the five main elements of prayer: praise, thanksgiving, confession, petition for self, and intercession for others. She distinguishes the difference between praise and thanksgiving as “to give thanks is to praise God for the good things [we] have received from God, while to praise is to thank God for who God is […]”. Furthermore, Westphal acknowledges the need for confession and forgiveness in prayer. She distinguishes petition for self and intercession for others stating, “if in the context of corporate prayer, the I is replaced by the We, it is only the size of the self that has changed, not its preoccupation with itself, its interests, and its agenda”.

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