Daniel Gittelman- Kenosis (The Phenomenology of Prayer)

Kenosis is the purification or cleansing of someone, which in sacred communication means to decenter oneself.

In The Phenomenology of Prayer: Prayer as the Posture of the Decentered Self, Merold Westphal states that the five elements of prayer are praise, thanksgiving, confession, petition, and intercession (13). Praise is the action of thanking God, thanksgiving is thanking him, confession is recognizing our imperfections, petition is acceptably asking God for things, and intercession is praying for others. These are all elements of praying with a decentered self because they are each forms of selfless and acceptable conversation with God.


In order to forge a relationship between oneself and God, one must be able to decenter themselves. A person must be able to remove all distractions of everyday marketplace life and isolate their thoughts on their connection between themselves and the deity or God that they are praying to. If one is to truly decenter themselves in order to pray, they must have interest without an intention to receive something in return. Despite being the one praying, it is not exclusively about the person praying.


Kenosis is demonstrated in Dr. Kip Redick’s article “Spiritual Rambling: Long Distance Wilderness” when he makes an analogy comparing hikers' backpacks to monks. Redick describes monks as prayer focused and free from the marketplace life, and he states that hikers have the ability to do the same (16). Freedom from the marketplace life is exactly what devotion to God asks of one. This reflects kenosis because the monks have decentered themselves, and the hikers have a quite similar opportunity.

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