As "Prayer in the Old Testament" is a very wide subject, I have restricted myself to outlines on certain themes. In a sense the whole Bible can be described as "prayer" since it is a dialogue of man with God, and God with man. Obviously the word with which to attempt any definition of prayer is the Hithpa'el verb (?)and its noun (?). It describes speech with God. As the Hebrew poetic device of parallelism offers us synonyms to (?) we examine those words with much the same general definition. There are other words which the Hebrew concordance reveals as being translated as "prayer", or as describing prayer. Most of these words are the ordinary words for speech. The words for prayer, in general, describe speech before God. With this wide definition Chapter Two groups the various kinds of speech before God, and attempts to describe each. Prayer is seen as dialogue, as asking, and as praise and thanksgiving. Prayer, however, does not exist in a vacuum. It cannot be separated from the people who pray and the God who makes prayer possible. Personalities of prayer give prayer meaning, purpose and dynamic. Looking at their prayers in context enables us to grasp a little more fully the role of prayer in life itself. As God provides the framework of prayer we must also look at that framework. He determines what kind of prayers are acceptable. He gives direction and power to the words of prayer. Without God, prayer is either magic or meaningless words. In the final chapter I try to tie up some of the loose ends. Prayer is not just an isolated and individual thing it exists within the cult and the community. Certain disciplines accompany it.

ABSTRACT FAR AND NEAR: CHRISTIAN WORSHIP OF THE TRANSCENDENT AND IMMANENT GOD OF WONDERS Charles Thomas Lewis, Jr., Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2015 Chair: Dr. Bruce A. Ware "Far and Near: Christian Worship of the Transcendent and Immanent God of Wonders" examines the rhythm of transcendence then immanence represented in divine worship encounters and significant prayers recorded in Scripture. With the objective of determining how transcendence and immanence shapes modern worship services in Southern Baptist churches, this dissertation also documents the goals, values, and objectives that may influence how worship pastors in Southern Baptist churches select and sequence elements to be included in their corporate worship services. Chapter 1 establishes the propensity of the modern church to bypass the transcendence of God while rushing to embrace God's immanence. Chapter 2 discusses the age of immanence and individualism--two modern mindsets permeating religious thinking and corporate worship of many Christians in modern times. This chapter also discusses the residual effects of the loss of focus on God's transcendence--the centralization of man coupled with the displacement of God from his rightful place of centrality in worship. Using the findings of the Worship Design Project 2014, chapter 3 is an empirical documentation of worship praxis and design by worship pastors in the most attended Southern Baptist churches in the United States. Chapter 4 discusses the biblical historical grounding of transcendence including God's transcendent holiness, aseity, sovereignty, constancy, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, and timeless eternality. Chapter 5 considers how God's immanent attributes are rooted in and flow from his transcendent characteristics. Chapter 6 is a Christological reflection on how Jesus Christ--God immanently with us--remains transcendent in relationship to his creation and his church. Chapter 7, the central focus of this dissertation, uses biblical data to demonstrate the rhythm of transcendence then immanence represented in divine worship encounters and prayer. Chapter 8 addresses the implications of properly balanced and ordered transcendence and immanence for modern worship service planning and design in the free church tradition. The thesis advanced in this dissertation is that, in divine-human encounters, the Bible demonstrates a repeated pattern of conceptualizing and understanding God in his transcendent otherness both prior to his immanence and as the framework within which his immanence can only be rightly understood and experienced.