"A God Who Perceives What is in the Hearts." On the New Kingdom Concept of Silent Prayer

In his influent article Silent prayer in antiquity (“Numen” 41, 1994, 1-25), P. van der Horst asserts that “prayers were said out loud and silent prayer was regarded as an anomalous practice that was looked upon with great suspicion”. Nevertheless, several Egyptian documents of the New Kingdom offer some clear examples not only of the possibility of such an approach, but also of a peculiar divine appreciation for quiet petitions. The paper explores the stages of development of this mindset, in their cultural factors and cognitive processes. Starting with the omniscience of the “good shepherd god” in the Teaching for Merikare, it is possible to trace a complex framework incorporating different elements of the “personal piety”concepts of Gottesnähe, the ideal of the “silent man” of New Kingdom didactic texts, the notion of “placing the god in the heart”, and the expansion of the appreciation for silence, culminating in the actual unspoken pleas mentioned in the Teaching of Ani, and, later, in the Insinger Wisdom Text. A special focus is also put on “private” hymns and records. The research intends to bring into view an undercurrent of the Egyptian religious experience that, alongside the powerful image of the god “who comes at the cry of who calls to him”, has also a place for a different form of communication.