Centering prayer’s effects on psycho-spiritual outcomes: a pilot outcome study

Centering prayer is a spiritual and religious form of meditation grounded in the history of Christian contemplative prayer. Despite its popularity, empirical research investigating centering prayer’s effects on psycho-spiritual outcomes is relative sparse. This pilot outcome study explored the effect of a centering prayer workshop on participants’ (N?=?9) depression, anxiety, stress, spiritual transcendence, religious crisis, faith development, and mindfulness. Several significant changes were noted over the course of the six-week study, including decreased anxiety and stress, and increased faith development and mindfulness. Interestingly, we noted that participants likely also experienced a spiritual or religious struggle that follows the established spiritual development paradigm called the Dark Night of the Soul. The study did not include a control group, and so did not account for effects related to history, maturation, or regression to the mean. Nevertheless, the initial results prove promising to develop more sophisticated research programmes that replicate the study’s findings.     

Graphic design in the printed translations of Franz Rosenzweig

One of Franz Rosenzweig's most significant ventures for Jewish renewal was the translation into German, which he initiated, of the Bible, prayerbook and religious poems. The aim of this essay is to explore the graphic design of the page that Rosenzweig selected for the printed edition of his translations. I will argue that the graphic design of the Siddur page is not just an aesthetic aspect of the translation but should be recognized as an educational and dialogic concern. Rosenzweig's preoccupation with page design is not limited to the Siddur, as the reader of The Star of Redemption will also notice his distinctive influence on the visual aspects of the text. It is expressed in the way he forms the six-pointed Star of David, the triangles which make up the star, and the way in which they appear in the book and are positioned on the page. And if the graphic depiction of the triangles is not enough, one only needs to visually experience what is described by Rosenzweig at the end of the book: the image of the star reveals the face of man.     

From Compassion to Obedience: Gender and Emotion in Two Danish Prayer Books

Drawing from recent scholarship on prayer, identity formation and the history and sociology of emotion, this article explores the intersection of gender and emotion in two Danish prayer books dating from before and after the Lutheran Reformation in 1536. It is argued that the introduction of Lutheranism in Denmark resulted in a more strictly gendered understanding of family prayer. In this, the social and emotional ideal of obedience to paternal authority came to eclipse the expression of compassion with the suffering Christ that was a characteristic feature of late-medieval prayer.     

Love and the Paradoxes of Unity: Zhu Xi's Debate with Followers of Cheng Hao over "Perceptual Oneness"

At the end of the twentieth century,there was a trend in Chinese literature towards characterizing Chinese culture as the "unity of Tian (Heaven) and humanity天人合一.” Rather than arguing against such a view,I present in this paper a series of debates over the paradoxes within the concept of unity as well as various notions of love,hoping to demonstrate the depth and complexity of this seemingly simple and dogmatic dictum so that those who cite it can be alert to its potential intricacies.I will discuss three elements which threaten to render the pursuit of oneness an impossible project:(1) the relation between naming and the named,which makes any conceptual attempt to attain oneness an infinite regress,as can be seen in Zhuangzi's莊子 argument against Hui Shi's惠施 oneness;(2) the gap between contemplation and practice,as can be seen in the contrast between Zhang Zai's張載 contemplative oneness and Cheng Hao's程顥 perceptual oneness;and (3) the self-bifurcating attentive acts of the heart-mind,which render any conscious endeavor to attain oneness a self-defeating project.Unlike Cheng Hao's emphasis on the subjective experience of perceptual oneness,his followers posit its underlying metaphysical substance as qi or xing (nature) and believe that moral self-cultivation should start from a metaphysical insight into this substance.Zhu Xi 朱熹 rejects the approach of grounding ethics on metaphysics and argues that love is not based on the notion of unity in terms of qi.He sees the ultimate comprehension of unity rather as a "metaphysical promise," a goal to be attained by following the Confucian Way of selfcultivation,which starts simply from reflection and practice on things near at hand.     

Prayer Type,Disclosure, and Mental Health Across Religious Groups

Researchers have found that disclosure to God partially explains associations between certain prayer types and mental health in a Christian sample. Although researchers have discovered several mediators explaining associations between prayer types and mental health, the use of predominantly Christian samples limits generalizability. In this study, the authors tested disclosure to God as a mediator in Jewish, Muslim, and Christian subsamples. Analyses indicated several differences among the groups; disclosure to God mediated associations between prayer type and mental health only among Christians.     

THOMAS MERTON AND LEO SZILARD: THE PARALLEL PATHS OF A MONK AND A NUCLEAR PHYSICIST

Abstract Thomas Merton and Leo Szilard, two of the seminal religious and scientific figures of the twentieth century, briefly connected on the issue of the danger of atomic weaponry. This meeting resulted from paths that guided them to an “orbiting” or distancing from human society through a phase of intellectual (Szilard) or spiritual (Merton) abstraction followed by a return to the concerns of human society. These parallel trajectories and their eventual intersection reflect both the similarities and differences in their respective backgrounds. The briefness of their contacts and the unfulfilled possibilities from such contacts also suggest the importance of a continuing dialogue between major figures in religion and science.     

基督徒祷告过程中人神依恋关系的质性探索

采用质性研究方法探索基督徒祷告过程中人神依恋关系的形成与发展。研究者以“局外人”身份, 采用逐步暴露方式进入研究现场开展客位研究。运用强度抽样方式和综合式抽样策略, 抽取14名(男女各7名)正式受洗(受洗时间从2年到32年不等)的基督徒作为样本, 通过深度访谈收集资料; 运用扎根理论对收集到的资料依次进行初步分析、类属分析和理论建构; 运用参与者检验法、非参与者检验法对研究结果进行效度检验。研究得出以下结论：祷告是基督徒以“信靠”作为承诺, 向上帝袒露心迹, 提出心理诉求, 进而与上帝建立亲密关系的沟通方式和重要渠道, 它提供了人神依恋系统被激活的情境。“信靠”是基督徒通过祷告与上帝之间形成和发展人神依恋关系的前提条件和关键因素; 人神亲密度的增加又反过来促进人对于神的信靠程度。现实生活的困难为基督徒祷告提供了刺激源, 并推动人神依恋关系不断向前发展。基督徒的祷告经历了三个阶段, 由Ⅰ期向Ⅲ期水平渐次提升, 最终形成“以上帝为中心”的困难应对图式。在此过程中, 随着“上帝”的观念越来越深地植入基督徒的自我, 有关“上帝”的心理表征不断得到强化, 相反, 有关“自我”的心理表征渐次弱化, 最终进入某种“无我”的状态。     

Prayer as Therapeutic Process Toward Aliveness Within a Spiritual Direction Relationship

This article underscores the potential benefit of a specific form of Christian prayer that creates space within a spiritual direction relationship for the creation of inner images that reveal a person’s unconscious relational longings and co-created representations of God. In this specific type of prayer that can be facilitated by mental health professionals and pastoral counselors, imagery of God’s presence is created in the space between a Christian spiritual director and a Christian directee while they are open to inner experiences that reveal God’s presence interacting with infantile processes toward aliveness. Aliveness is understood using Winnicottian notions in dialog with theories proposed by Allan N. Schore, affective neuropsychologist and Clinical Faculty at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Ann Belford Ulanov, Jungian Analyst and Professor of Psychiatry and Religion at Union Theological Seminary and W.R.D., British psychoanalyst in the Objects Relations School. Ideas of transitional space, good enough mother, holding environment, aggression, creativity, and play are set alongside theories of affect regulation, the developing brain, co-created objective God images, the relational nature of God and being received as good while illuminating three prayer experiences during one 30-year-old Asian American woman’s 16-month therapeutic process toward aliveness.

Modelling the effect of worship attendance and personal prayer on spiritual well-being among 9- to 11-year-old students attending Anglican church schools in Wales

This study employs a modified form of the Fisher 16-item Feeling Good, Living Life measure of spiritual well-being (assessing quality of relationships across four domains: self, family, nature and God) among a sample of 1,328 students drawn from year five and year six classes within Church in Wales primary schools, alongside measures of frequency of worship attendance and frequency of personal prayer. The data demonstrate frequency of personal prayer is a much stronger predictor than frequency of worship attendance in respect of spiritual well-being. This finding is consistent with the view that personal prayer is a key factor in the formation of individual spirituality.