The christian prayer as a language game

A Wittgensteinian approach

Abstract

This essay offers an interpretation of Christian prayer based on Wittgenstein’s concept of language games. It shows how the Christian tradition has inscribed the practice of prayer in a deep grammar, distinct from the causal logic typical of superstition. After discussing Wittgenstein’s shift toward the everyday use of language and philosophy as linguistic therapy, the essay analyzes prayer in its three essential forms: petition, contemplation, and thanksgiving. Each form articulates a particular mode of dependence, humility, and gratitude, always anchored in community life. Next, the confusions that reduce prayer to a “spell” or a machine of empirical effects are unmasked, appealing to the distinction between grammatical surface and depth grammar. Finally, the transformative value of prayer is vindicated: a dialogue and expressive act with God and a testimony of hope that strengthens communion and guides Christian conduct.