Journal article
Authors list: Gerstenberger, Erhard S.
Publication year: 2019
Pages: 81-94
Journal: Die Welt des Orients
Volume number: 49
Issue number: 1
ISSN: 0043-2547
eISSN: 2196-9019
Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
Abstract:
Prayer is a multi-layered, amply-faceted religious and culturally determined phenomenon. The functional aspects of "praise" and "petition" may serve as our "vernacular" (and thus incompatible to ancient concepts) terms in our efforts to systematize notions of prayer. Petition for help and salvation in the ancient Near East arose in situations of danger (mostly befalling small social groups) in order to coerce superhuman powers into an alliance against destructive tendencies. Praise, on the other hand, came out of larger groups, tried to maintain or establish that beneficial equilibrium so necessary of all human well-being. Thus, both - seemingly dichotomous, ritualized allocutions to higher powers - are, in fact, human contributions to the micro- and macro-world order of peace, justice, and bliss.
Citation Styles
Harvard Citation style: Gerstenberger, E. (2019) Petition and Praise: Basic Forms of Prayer in the Babylonian and Hebrew Tradition, WELT DES ORIENTS, 49(1), pp. 81-94
APA Citation style: Gerstenberger, E. (2019). Petition and Praise: Basic Forms of Prayer in the Babylonian and Hebrew Tradition. WELT DES ORIENTS. 49(1), 81-94.
