The Accelerated Late-Modern Way of Life: Prayer as a Counter-Alienation Practice

Abstract

Hartmut Rosa’s diagnosis of the contemporary world focuses on late modernity, social acceleration, and the concept of resonance. He argues that the norms of our social world are increasingly shaped by the accelerating pace of life, leading to alienation from space, time, others, and even ourselves. While Rosa sees little hope of reversing these processes, this contribution aims to extend his critical analysis by proposing prayer as a potential practice of deceleration and resistance to alienation. By integrating the Frankfurt School’s Critical Theory (to which Rosa belongs) with the study of religious experience (Otto, James…), I argue that the simple act of prayer, approached at a trans-confessional level, should be reconsidered in contemporary philosophical debates on achieving a good life. Prayer, in fact, could be considered a counter-alienation practice, for it provides a pause amid social chaos: rooted in the hope for a divine response, it offers a moment of stillness and reflection, counteracting alienation in the tumult of modern life.