ABSTRACT
This chapter features thought experiments, discussion questions and further readings on petitionary prayer. People can pray to God for a number of reasons. Petitionary prayer seems to be an integral part of at least some religious practices. We might, for instance, ask God for forgiveness. It would be a natural starting point to think that if we are sincerely petitioning God, then we have some reasonable expectation that God listens to and acts upon our request. we might say that, in engaging in the act of petitionary prayer, we are not really petitioning God to change His mind. Rather, in asking for something from God, we are coming into a relationship with Him and changing ourselves in the process. Although we go through the motions of asking questions of God, this is not the same as the sort of requesting that we engage with when talking to our friends and family.
