for our argument. (A complete prohibition of communal prayers seems rather
unlikely, although not entirely impossible under particular historical circum-
stances, such as during persecutions.) Either way, the net result is that at least
some prayer is strictly recommended to occur in solitude, and something
similar is advised about fasting. It must be kept in mind, as well, that Jewish
prayer in New Testament times consisted of a blend offixed and free prayers
(Hoffman, 1984; Charlesworth, 1992; Finkel, 2001). The former was the dom-
inant form, however, as suggested, among others, by rabbis’warning against
mechanistic prayer (Mishnah Aboth 2.13; Mishnah Berakhot 4.4; cf.
Charlesworth, 1992, p. 47); at any rate, free prayer also relied onfixed structures
and occasions (Hoffman, 1984, pp. 42–5; Charlesworth, 1992, pp. 57–63).
Further, prayer was not a purely verbal activity but was accompanied by gestures
and movements, such as standing, kneeling, prostration, weeping, magical
gestures, and so on (Albertz, 1984, pp. 34–5; Hoffman, 1984, p. 48). Removing
the organizing power, sensory feedback, and interpretation provided by a
communal setting seems to push the practice offixed and highly structured
prayer toward the compulsive, ritualized end of the spectrum. What could be
the reason of emphasizing solitary prayer?
Anthropologist Richard Sosis (2007) conducted an interesting empirical
study in a small Israeli town during the Second Palestinian Intifada (2000–5).
In preliminary interviews, Sosis recorded a number of religious practices that
people believed protected them from terrorist attacks (p. 905); reciting psalms
was deemed the most efficacious among them, practiced by 83 percent of
religious and 35.7 percent of secular women in response to the Intifada.
However, the secular women in the study showed two interesting tendencies:
first (p. 906), the increase of psalm reading among them in response to the
threat of terror was much higher than among the religious (who would be
engaged in such practices anyway); second (pp. 906–8), secular women who
read psalms tended to neglect other precautions (e.g., not taking buses) while
this was not observed among religious women. A possible interpretation of
thesefindings is that solitary, structured prayer provides an easy and efficient
way to relieve anxiety. Although the“secular”participants in the experiment
did not formally practice religion, they lived in a small town with a strong
religious population and tradition (p. 904) and we can assume that they were
familiar with the main concepts and practices of Jewish religion.
If we now turn back to thefirst century, the category of the“secular”Jew is
hardly applicable. However, Jewish practices in thefirst century Mediterra-
nean world varied along geographical and social divisions. Without entering
the maze of arguments about Jewish ritual practices in New Testament times,
we can make the general observation that people in varying socioeconomic
positions and occupations were not equally positioned to observe laws
and practices (e.g., Stegemann & Stegemann, 1995, pp. 132–3; Klingbeil,
2007, pp. 189–96; Kazen, 2010, pp. 67–88). Further, given the co-existence
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