David A. Bednar used to teach business students at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Now, he s a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
A friend emailed me a great question about Latter-day Saint “prayer posture”: “why do we fold our arms instead of folding hands like many other Christians.” The following is a preliminary response.
First, I suspect that we started out following the prayer practice of the traditions of the converts to the early Restoration. There is some evidence of diversity in practice. For example, there is textual evidence for kneeling while praying in Joseph Smith’s revelations. And during the Kirtland holy season, there were prayers with uplifted hands, or in circles. There is not a lot of material to go from, however.