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Praying for the Dead: An Ecumenical Proposal

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Purgatory

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Abstract

In this paper, I defend the claim that we have good reason to think that God can (and maybe does) answer prayers for the dead, and, perhaps surprisingly, these reasons hold even if one is agnostic on Purgatory. I examine philosophical discussions on the efficacy of both petitionary prayer and praying for the past: showing that the reasons offered for efficacious prayers of those types apply to prayers for the dead as well. Hence, supposing that we have good reasons to think that God can/does grant petitions or that God can answer prayers about the past, we have similar reasons to think that prayers addressed to God for the dead can be efficacious.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History‚ Political Science‚ Philosophy‚ and American Studies, University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg, SC, USA

    Benjamin W. McCraw

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  1. Benjamin W. McCraw
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Pontifical University Antonianum, Rome, Italy

    Kristof Vanhoutte

  2. Department of History, Political Science, Philosophy, and American Studies, University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA

    Benjamin W. McCraw

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McCraw, B.W. (2017). Praying for the Dead: An Ecumenical Proposal. In: Vanhoutte, K., McCraw, B. (eds) Purgatory. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57891-0_13

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