Scientific American published an article about research on the relationship between prayer and cure of diseases: Scientists Find One Source of Prayer’s Power. The results seem plausible and the interpretation of the results emphasize the natural but don’t deny the possibility of the supernatural. I’m probably more inclined to deny the supernatural when it comes to cures of diseases than is the average agnostic or atheist who is trying to respect the beliefs of others. I deny the supernatural mostly because my view of God as a Creator who works through acts-of-beings makes unnecessary the view that God sits on His throne watching us and occasionally choosing to intervene by way of a divine invasion of our mortal world.
The first paragraph of the article, Scientists Find One Source of Prayer’s Power, tells us:
The religious find strength through God; this we know. But a new study conducted by Prof. Malt Friese and Michaela Wanke suggests that even non-believers can get in on the action. In a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, they present evidence showing how and why prayer might increase anyone’s ability to resist temptation. Though we can all agree that to do so requires self-control, the authors propose that the source of such control might not be supernatural. Instead, it might come from something more earthly. Something accessible to even the most devoted atheist: social connection.
I agree, so long as this last sentence is not taken in a reductionistic sense. The last paragraph of the article does provide some qualification against the necessity of such a reduction:
This does not rule out the possibility that prayer has other effects on resisting temptation, and the spiritually inclined could see the hand of God as another causal factor here. But as the holidays approach, it reminds us all of where we derive so much of our day-to-day strength. Interacting and connecting with the people around us.
I also agree with this statement and would even support the idea that we who are practicing Christians connect with God as much through their community connections as by way of personal prayer and worship. Even the lukewarm, or outright non-believers worshiping because of spouses or parents or children might well connect with God through their fellowmen more than some of us can imagine.
To a certain extent, this article in its efforts to be fair to those who truly believe in God makes a mistake also made by far too many Christians in the modern world. It seems to assume God is out there somewhere, perhaps Jove or Jupiter sitting on His throne and watching as things happen on Earth. In Christian belief, God is everywhere including the `insides’ of every human being. As Augustine of Hippo said 1500 years ago: God is more deeply inside of us than we can ourselves reach. He is a Creator, immanent as well as transcendent, inhabiting—in a manner of speaking—each bit of created being. He creates, from nothing and also by shaping what already exists into other created entities.
Mostly, this line of thought should lead a Christian, or those seeking to understand Christian thought, to meditate upon the Body of Christ, the ultimate community of those who will be resurrected to share the life of God through full communion with Jesus Christ. In this community, the resurrected will be like the God of Jesus Christ in an important way: each member of the Body of Christ will remain fully an individual and yet also be fully Christ, the perfect and completed man.
I’m not attacking the work described in this article, Scientists Find One Source of Prayer’s Power, nor am I attacking the article as a summary. [This underlying research] “reminds us all of where we derive so much of our day-to-day strength. Interacting and connecting with the people around us.” This is true from a Christian perspective though we are bound to add: “And Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three Persons who chose to associate Themselves with all of us mortal human beings.” Moreover, we are also bound to add that each man, woman, or child who accepts the invitation of God (and maybe some socially bound to those who do so accept) will be members of a human community which is also divine by way of perfect communion with God.
For some early thoughts on the nature of the Body of Christ, see Man, Society, and the Body of Christ and What is the Role of the Christian Church in the Public Square?. I’ve continued to work on this line of thought through 2013 but mostly on some of the details. I take on an interesting and important claim of St Paul in What Christ Was Lacking. For a more complete and somewhat more mature take on the general issues regarding human nature, download the book: A More Exact Understanding of Human Being.