Personal Piety & the Approachable God
Not just grand temples: ordinary Egyptians left humble, personal prayers to a merciful god.
Also: personal piety · Egyptian piety · Deir el-Medina prayers · penitential stelae · trust in god · merciful god
Alongside the grand state cult, Egyptians — especially in the New Kingdom — left texts and monuments expressing intimate, personal religion: praising a god as merciful, confessing faults, accepting divine punishment as just, and trusting god to guide one's life rather than relying on one's own cleverness. Workmen's prayers from Deir el-Medina and the later instructions (like Amenemope) breathe this humble, trusting spirit.
In short
A current of Egyptian religiosity, especially visible in the New Kingdom, expressing direct personal devotion, dependence on a god's mercy, confession of wrongdoing, and trust in divine guidance — sometimes called 'personal piety.'
Where it’s found
New Kingdom votive stelae and prayers (Deir el-Medina); the wisdom instructions
How the idea developed across Egypt
Most prominent in the New Kingdom (esp. Ramesside; the votive stelae and prayers of Deir el-Medina), though attitudes of dependence on the divine appear earlier; the later instructions (Amenemope, the Demotic P. Insinger) carry the same tone. The category of 'personal piety' is a modern scholarly construct — present with care.
'Personal piety' is a modern category (and a debated one — whether it marks a real historical shift is discussed in scholarship); hedge any claim that it was 'new' in the New Kingdom.