ritsukoizutsu

I gained a respect for Grenz after reading some of his later works on theology and postmodernism, and I set off to explore more of what he is about. Prayer is his first book, and I have to say it disappointed me. The book focused on supplicational prayer. His main premise is that prayer is necessary to release God's willingness to act in the world. I'll admit that prayer for me is a sticky problem. I try to be open to all approaches, but to claim that prayer is necessary to bend God's will to move is a little hard to accept. Grenz also spent a fair amount of time giving instructions on how to pray. He even talked about ACTS. (To be fair, the book was written in 1988, so even though it's annoying to still be hearing about ACTS, I'll give him some freedom here.) Considering that Grenz grew to embrace more of the postmodern mindset, it was funny to read all his rules for correct prayer, down to the necessary grammar to use. The subtitle expresses another premise of the book: prayer should be used to bring the kingdom. This to me conflicts with one of Grenz's rules. He states that prayer should be specific, so that you know for sure when it has been answered. It is hard to be specific when praying for the world to be fixed and the kingdom of God to come. How are we supposed to know everything that needs to happen? This makes us the people utimately responsible for redeeming the world, and while I don't have any problem doing all I can to try, Christians believe that the end rests on God. The book itself is a normal evangelical argument for why people pray and what they pray for, but it does not deal seriously with some of the philosophical challenges that accompnay prayer. In practice, the book ignores much of historical Christian thought which makes prayer a much more free-er event and much more personal. I will still be learning more about Grenz and his books, but I may weigh them more carefully before I commit.

2020-12-26 17:28