ABSTRACT
There are several different kinds of prayer, but most of the philosophical difficulties with the concept of prayer are associated with petitionary prayer, which, broadly speaking, may be defined as making requests to God. Stump suggests that God will help such people without being asked, but that, since God's usual practice is to give benefits in response to requests, God's primary concern is to enable people to make these requests. Stump admits that, in a case such as failure to pray for victims of an earthquake, an adequate answer is much more difficult to find. Stump notes that there is nothing in her analysis of prayer which requires that God answer every prayer, and that Christian writings are full of examples of prayers which are not answered. Another way of addressing the problems associated with petitionary prayer was suggested by Muhammad Iqbal who develops a concept of prayer in the context of a panentheist idea of Ultimate Reality.
