When prayer goes wrong: A negative theology of prayer

Abstract

Prayer is often taken to be the solution to all manner of things. But what happens when prayer is not so much the solution to the injustices of the world as part of the problem? In this article, I present Karl Barth's idea of the 'shadow-side' of creation as a way of querying the prayer-as-the-solution-to-everything trope and encouraging more disciplined thinking about prayer - one that is self-critical, alert to and realistic about the dangers of prayer and yet not without hope in the promise of prayer's remaking. I call this way of thinking about prayer a 'negative' theology of prayer.