Of course there is more than one kind of phylactery!
No doubt, the clothe 'scapulas' i wore as a child would qualify. these were small peices of cloth, made into pouches, and in these pouches, prayers printed (on other cloth) the pouches were brown wool felt, the prayers on fine white linen. there were 2 pockets, 0ne for the chest, one for the back, and the they were connected by narrow brown ribbons.
the common belief is, prayer doesn't change things, prayer (or the act of praying) changes people and people change things (or idea about things, and then the things themselves.
but Harvard medical school did a research study, and had people 'pray' for molds and bacteria growing in petri dishes, and they one that were prayed for actually were more robust and lived longer that other mold and bacteria in the same storage area.
so who knows? mane wearing (as apposed to saying) prayers works too. (and if christans (well, catholics!) and jews do it, maybe other religious groups do it too?
(many religions do require special garments, (judism, mormanism, cathsolism(especally for nuns and priests) could these also be considered phylacteries?
and since religious scapula's meet all the 'requirements' of being a phylactery, i guess there are 'collections' of them!
Last edited by of troy; 11/24/2005 3:41 PM.
