Abstract:
Prayer is a conversation with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or
meditation, but in direct address to him. It is „beseeching the Lord‟ (Ex 32:11); „pouring out the
soul before the Lord‟ (1Sa 1:15); „praying and crying to heaven‟ (2Ch 32:20); „seeking unto God
and making supplication‟ (Job 8:5); „drawing near to God‟ (Ps 73:28). Prayer presupposes a
belief in the personality of God, his ability and willingness to hold intercourse with us, his
personal control of all things and of all his creatures and all their actions.
As part of forms of prayer, came imprecatory prayer. Imprecatory prayer has become one
of the forms of prayer in African Christian Churches. Though this type of prayers is found in the
Bible especially the Old Testament, the practice is not in consonant with Jesus‟ statement, “You
have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-44). This paper in this regard,
seeks to bring to light the meaning of imprecatory prayer, the theological foundation for
imprecatory prayer, state some of the factors that have led to the upsurge of imprecatory prayer
in Africa and finally, examine the named factors in the light of the New Testament. For the sake
of my knowledge in some Akan culture and traditions especially that of the Ashanti region of
Ghana, I will use some of them to elaborate some of the points.
