Petitionary prayer : a philosophical investigation

198 Pages·2017·1.003 MB·English

by  Davison, Scott Alan

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Petitionary Prayer
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Petitionary Prayer
A Philosophical Investigation
SCOTT A. DAVISON
1
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3
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Preface
Iwouldliketothankthefollowingpersonsforreadingorcommenting
on material that later became parts of this book (in no particular
order): Eleonore Stump, Timothy O’Connor, Randolph Clarke,
Daniel and Frances Howard-Snyder, KevinTimpe,Ronald L. Hall,
Michael Rea, Michael Bergmann, Joshua Smith, George Pappas,
Thomas P. Flint, David Basinger, Nicholas Smith, Alexander Pruss,
William Rowe, Jeff Jordan, Michael Murray, Ronald L. Hall,
Paul Draper, William Hasker, Kate Rogers, the Rev. Donald Klop,
WinifredKlop,TeenaBlackburn,andGeorgeMavrodes.
I would also like to thank participants in the 2006 Meeting of the
Society for Philosophy of Religion (Charleston, South Carolina),
participants in the 2009 University of Texas at San Antonio Work-
shop for Metaphysics and Philosophy of Religion (San Antonio,
Texas), participants in the 2012 Society for Philosophy of Religion
meeting(Savannah,Georgia),andparticipantsinthe2015–16weekly
seminar series in the Analytic Theology for Theological Formation
program at Fuller Seminary (Pasadena, California). At these venues,
versions of some of the arguments that appear here were presented
anddiscussed,muchtomybenefit.
Special thanks are due to William Hasker, J. Caleb Clanton, and
twoanonymousrefereesforOxfordUniversityPress,whoreadearly
drafts of the entire manuscript and provided very helpful comments
and challenges that resulted in significant changes in the main con-
clusionsofthebook.Iwouldalsoliketothankstudentsinmyspring
2012 Philosophy 399 class at Morehead State University, which was
devoted to the subject of petitionary prayer. I have almost certainly
forgottenotherswhohelpedmealongtheway,butIamgratefulfor
allofthesupportIhavereceived.
Thankstoallofthishelpfromotherpeople,Iwasabletoremove
manyerrorsfromearlierversionsofthemanuscript,butI’msurethat
many others remain, for which I alone bear responsibility. For a
variety of reasons, I was not able to address, to my satisfaction,
every critical comment I received during the writing of this book;
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vi Preface
Iwillindicatehereandtheremyuncertaintyaboutissuesthatseemto
requirefurtherattention.
Release time from teaching to pursue the research and writing of
thisbookwasprovidedbyasabbaticalleavesemesterfromMorehead
State University in the spring of 2013, during which I enjoyed a
ResearchFellowshipintheMooreInstituteattheNationalUniversity
of Ireland in Galway. I am grateful to both of these institutions for
theirsupport.
ThisbookisdedicatedtomywifeBecky,whoisapositivepresence
to everyone she meets, and who enables me to enjoy so many of the
things that make our common life wonderful. During the past six
months, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, underwent surgery,
and completed chemotherapy treatments before starting hormone
suppression drugs. We have three children between 10 and 15 years
of age, and we are all deeply immersed in the life of a small town,
playingvariousrolesinanumberofcommunityorganizations,includ-
ing a Christian church. Throughout this time, we have been gener-
ouslysupportedbyourfriends,family,students,colleagues,andeven
otherswhomweknowonlyasacquaintances.Increativeandhelpful
ways we could never anticipate, let alone request, these people have
sharedourburdensandhelpedustoarriveattheplacewhereweare
today,whereBecky’sprognosisforfuturehealthisverypositive.
In recent months, our religious friends and family have told us
many times over that they prayed to God for us in the petitionary
way,andwearedeeplygratefulfortheseactsoflove.Didtheymakea
difference in the outcome of Becky’s case? Would things have
gone worse for us, had those prayers not been offered? We don’t
reallyknow;maybewewillneverknow.Ormaybesomeday,wewill
discoverthattheseprayersreallydidmakeadifference,andwewillbe
evenmoregratefulforthem.
Atthesametime,ournon-religiousfriendsandfamilytoldusmany
times over that they were thinking about us, sending us positive
energy, hoping for the best, and wishing us well. As before, we are
deeplygratefulfortheseactsoflove.Didtheymakeadifferenceinthe
outcome of Becky’s case? Would things have gone worse for us, had
peoplenothadthosethoughts?Wedon’treallyknow;maybewewill
neverknow.Ormaybesomeday,wewilldiscoverthattheyreallydid
makeadifference,andwewillbeevenmoregratefulforthem.
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Contents
Introduction 1
1. ChallengesandDefenses 7
2. PetitionaryPrayerCharacterized 24
3. DivineFreedomChallenges 43
4. EpistemologicalChallenges 62
5. EpistemologicalDefenses 78
6. DivineGoodnessandPrayingforOthers 96
7. Responsibility-BasedDefenses 114
8. Self-DirectedPetitionaryPrayerandNewDefenses 130
9. PracticalQuestionsandtheNatureofFaith 147
10. Conclusion 163
Bibliography 171
Index 185
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Introduction
Lastyear,whileIwasworkingonthisbook,my12yearoldsonDrew
and I went on a camping trip with some relatives in the Upper
Peninsula of Michigan. We drove to the Sylvania Wilderness Area,
packedallofourgearintocanoes,andpaddledtoourcampground.
Thenextday,inthemiddleoftheafternoon,Drewwasinatentwith
the door zipped closed. I told him that the rest of us were all going
fishinginthecanoes,andthatwewouldreturnshortly.Butwhenwe
returned,hewasgone.
We searched everywhere. The people camping at the next site,
somedistanceawayfromours,hadnotseenhim,butinsistedthatthey
would have seen him if he had gone in that direction. We hiked the
other way, shouting, but could not find him. My brother-in-law
paddled his canoe back to the car back at the boat ramp, but they
didnotfindhim,either.Ibegantogrowdesperate.Iranoutofthings
todo.SoIcalled911,andtheysaidthattheywouldsendhelp,butwe
were in such a remote location that it might take quite a long while
before anyone arrived—we were many miles from the nearest town,
andourlocationwasaccessibleonlybycanoe.Asitbecamelateinthe
afternoon, I worried about what would happen after darkness fell.
I remembered that Drew did not drink water with his lunch, and
Iimaginedthatifheweredehydratedfromhiking,hemightbeunable
torespondevenifhehearduscalling.
Isentatextmessagetomywife,whowasatworkbackhome,many
hundredsofmilesaway.Iapologizedprofuselyforthewholesituation
andaskedhertojoinmeinprayingforDrew,becauseIdidn’tknow
whatelsetodo.AndIdidprayforDrewmyself,askingGodtoreturn
himtosafety.
Abouthalfanhourlater,Drewappeared,hikingdownthetrail.He
hadbeenasleepinthetentwhenItoldhimthatweweregoingfishing,
soheneverheardme.(Iwaswrongtoassumethatheknewwherewe
were—Ithoughthehadacknowledgedme,buthehadnot.)Whenhe
woke,hecouldnotseeusinthecanoes,soheassumedwehadtraveled