A narrative and apocalyptic philosophy of prayer: being towards God

Biblical accounts of prayer often attend to the personal and communal narratives that shape the human need and desire to address God. The Book of Daniel offers a particularly vivid narrative context of prayer, telling the story of a young Israelite who cultivates a persistent practice of prayer in circumstances that are unusually challenging and have uncommonly high stakes. In narrating these prayers, the Book of Daniel unveils dimensions of prayer that are not philosophically predictable but can be philosophically interpreted. This essay attempts such an interpretation, identifying two central dimensions of Daniel's prayers: the eschatological and the hermeneutic. Prayer is eschatological because it seeks the discernment of our final end and the means of its attainment as we make ourselves present to God. Prayer is hermeneutical because it is a task of reading the signs of our lives, interpreting our needs and desires in relation to the divine will and to our final end. The essay begins with a reading of Daniel's prayers in their narrative context, drawing on a range of contemporary interpretations – historical, political, and philosophical – to achieve a better understanding of their qualities and functions. The essay continues with a reading of Aquinas's account of prayer informed by this textual work and with an outlook on contemporary philosophical questions surrounding prayer, particularly the phenomenology of prayer offered by Jean-Louis Chrétien and the analysis of desire of Henri de Lubac. Across both parts, the essay draws attention to the eschatological orientation of prayer, its intimate connection to the theological virtue of hope, and the place of grace in drawing the human spirit, through prayer, to a final consummation.