Kierkegaard on prayer

July 8, 2026 Mike Zonta Leave a comment

Unfinished sketch of Kierkegaard by his cousin Niels Christian Kierkegaard, Royal Library, Copenhagen, c. 1840

“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”

~ Kierkegaard

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was a Danish Lutheran theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. Wikipedia

Born May 5, 1813, Copenhagen, Denmark

Died November 11, 1855 (age 42 years), Copenhagen, Denmark

Kierkegard

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Quotes

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“A great man knows he is not God, and the greater he is the better he knows it.”
— G.K. Chesterton

“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only at night.”
— Edgar Allan Poe

“Give thanks to unknown blessings already on their way.”
— Native American proverb at cafe in San Francisco

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”
–e.e. cummings

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Bathtub Bulletin

Kierkegaard on prayer

“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”

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Consciousness, spirituality, biography, sexuality, androgyny, futurism, space, the arts, science, astrology, democracy, humor, books, movies and more