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Why Petition an Omnipotent, Omniscient, Wholly Good God?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

David Basinger
David Basinger
Affiliation:
Professor of Philosophy, Roberts Wesleyan College, Rochester
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Extract

Orthodox Christian theists frequently petition God in the sense that they ask him to bring about some state of affairs which they believe may not occur without divine intervention. Such petitions basically fall into three categories: (i) requests in which the petitioner is asking God to influence significantly the natural environment – e.g. calm a hurricane, (2) requests in which the petitioner is asking God to influence significantly the lives ofother individuals – e.g. reconcile the broken marriage of friends, and (3) requests in which the petitioner is asking God to influence significantly his or her own life – e.g. soothe his or her troubled mind.

Type
Articles
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , March 1983 , pp. 25 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

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References

page 26 note 1 Stump, Eleonore, ‘Petitionary Prayer’, American Philosophical Quarterly, XVI (04 1979), 83–5.Google Scholar

page 27 note 1 Calvin, John, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. by Beveridge, Henry II, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979), 147.Google Scholar

page 28 note 1 Martin Luther: Selections from His Writings, ed. by Dillenberger, John (Garden City, New York: Anchor Books, 1961), p. 217.Google Scholar

page 28 note 2 Summa Theologiae, IA, q. 19, a. 8, r. 2.Google Scholar

page 28 note 3 Summa, 2A-2AE, q. 83, a. 2.Google Scholar

page 28 note 4 Ibid.

page 29 note 1 Stump, p.90.

page 31 note 1 For a fuller discussion of this point, see Basinger, David, ‘Human Freedom and Divine Providence: Some New Thoughts on an Old Problem’, Religious Studies, XV (12 1979).Google Scholar

page 33 note 1 I am discussing here both those prayers in which God is being asked to influence directly the lives of other individuals and those prayers in which he is being asked to ‘manipulate’ the natural environment for the benefit of other individuals.

page 33 note 2 Allen, R. T., ‘On not Understanding Prayer’, Sophia (1972), p. 2.Google ScholarPubMed

page 34 note 1 Stump, pp.88, 90.

page 36 note 1 See, for example, Schlesinger, George, ‘The Problem of Evil and the Problem of Suffering’, American Philosophical Quarterly I (07 1964), 244–7Google Scholar; Reichenbach, Bruce, ‘Must God Create the Best Possible World?’ International Philosophical Quarterly(06 1979), 203–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 37 note 1 Basinger, David, ‘Divine Omniscience and the Best of All Possible Worlds’, journal of Value Inquiry, 16 (1982), 143–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 37 note 2 Khatchadourian, Haig, ‘God, Happiness and Evil’, Religious Studies, II (10 1966), 114.Google Scholar

page 38 note 1 Adams, Robert, ‘Must God Create the Best?’ Philosophical Review, LXXXI (1972), 322.Google Scholar

page 38 note 2 Adams, p. 322.

page 38 note 3 Adams, pp. 322–3.