ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the feasibility of applying the concept of practice to the analysis of actual forms of prayer, to facilitate a more adequate interpretation. The phenomenon of prayer might seem to be one of the most fundamental subjects for the sociology of religion to deal with. If one go beyond definitional questions which are not included in the scope of this contribution, it seems possible to affirm that every religious tradition expresses itself through activities which can be interpreted as prayers. It would then be logical to suppose that a discipline that deals with religious phenomena would give first priority to the analysis of the geographic, social, historical and cultural variability of prayer. However, more often than not, these interpretative proposals have supported the idea of a close connection between the sense of the prayer, the reflexive state of mind of the person praying, and the tie between the wording of the prayer and the doctrine it refers to.
