About this item
Highlights
- Christians around the world recite the Lords Prayer daily, but what exactly are they praying forand what relationship does it have with Jesus own context?
- Author(s): Jeffrey B Gibson
- 192 Pages
- Religion + Beliefs, Biblical Criticism & Interpretation
Description
About the Book
What are Christians praying when they pray the Lords Prayer, and what relationship does it have with Jesus own context? Jeffrey B. Gibson disputes the view that Jesus prayer was derived from Jewish synagogal prayers. Understanding its intent requires understanding Jesus purpose in calling disciples as witnesses against this generation. In context, the prayer was not eschatological and was not aimed at calling down into the present the realities of the age to come. Rather, it was meant to protect disciples from the temptations of their age.Book Synopsis
Christians around the world recite the Lords Prayer daily, but what exactly are they praying forand what relationship does it have with Jesus own context? Jeffrey B. Gibson reviews scholarship that derives the so-called Lords Prayer from Jewish synagogal prayers and refutes it. The genre of the prayer, he shows, is petitionary, and understanding its intent requires understanding Jesus purpose in calling disciples as witnesses against this generation. Jesus did not mean to teach a unique understanding of God; the prayer had its roots in first-century Jewish movements of protest.
In context, Gibson shows (pace Schweitzer, Lohmeyer, Davies, Allison, and a host of other scholars) that the prayer had little to do with calling down into the present realities of the age to come. Rather, it was meant to protect disciples from the temptations of their age and, thus, to strengthen their countercultural testimony. Gibsons conclusions offer new insights into the historical Jesus and the movement he sought to establish.