Why is praying for the past wrong
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20312955 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Elad Moria (0009-0000-6553-2831, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 62 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 290-304 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religious Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-4125 • E-ISSN: 1469-901X |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0034412525000265 |
| OpenAlex | W4409710640 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 21 |
I begin with the intuition that there is something wrong with praying for the past, for example, praying for a basketball team to win after the game has ended. My aim is to find a philosophical explanation for why this is wrong. I explore three explanations for the wrongness in praying for the past, reject the first two, and offer a third. The first is based on the idea that prayer for the past is inefficacious. This assumption turns out to be mistaken. The second relies on religious considerations; I reject this explanation since it is too narrow and does not explain the initial intuition. I then argue that prayer for past events is wrong in virtue of being an unwarranted response, similar to how emotions can be unwarranted. I use concepts from the philosophy of fittingness to articulate my explanation
Epistemology · Theology · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Philosophy · Philosophy and Theoretical Science · Theology and Philosophy of Evil
The Emotions
Emotions, Values, and Agency
Sentiment and Value
Emotions and Their Correctness Conditions
Emotions and Process Rationality
Prayers for the past
Praying for known outcomes
Hyper-Past Evils
Can God Promise Us a New Past? A Response to Lebens and Goldschmidt
The fittingness of emotions
The Moralistic Fallacy
Bringing About the Past
Praying About the Past
Fittingness
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |