Resumen:
Numerous studies show that personal spirituality developed through prayer
positively influences mental health. Phenomenological and neuroscientific studies of
mindfulness, an Eastern meditative prayer form, reveal significant health benefits now
yielding important insights useful for guiding treatment of psychological disorders. By
contrast, and despite its practice for millennia, Christian meditation is largely unrepresented
in studies of clinical efficacy. Resemblances between mindfulness and disciplinary
acts in Christian meditation taken from the ancient Greek practice of askesis suggest that
Christian meditation will prove similarly beneficial; furthermore, psychological and neuroscientific
studies suggest that its retention of a dialogical and transcendent praxis will
additionally benefit social and existential psychotherapy. This paper thus argues that study
of contemplative meditation for its therapeutic potential is warranted.
