| Recent polls show that a majority of persons seeking mental health services profess religio-spiritual beliefs, and would welcome consideration of spirituality in their treatment process. This dissertation will seek to address the gap between clinicians and clients of religion and spirituality by contributing to the scholarly literature on the topic of prayer. Inspired by the theoretical perspective of Adrian van Kaam and the literary school of Reader-Response criticism, this dissertation uses the qualitative research methodology, Intuitive Inquiry, to explore themes in participants' descriptions of prayer in terms of intersubjectivity and embodiment. Result and discussion explore the ways in which the researcher's understanding of the experience of prayer change as a result of, and in relationship to, review of scholarly literature and interactions with research participants. |
