The Lord’s Prayer (Interpretation: Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church)
Digital Verbum Edition
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Overview
C. Clifton Black provides a thorough analysis of the most famous prayer in the Christian church, the Lord’s Prayer. He begins with an impressionist painting of how the ancients prayed during Jesus’ time in order to set the context for understanding the prayer he taught his disciples. Throughout the book, Black systematically interprets the rich meanings of each part of the Lord’s prayer. Additionally, he includes an overview of Christian thought on the Lord’s Prayer from early church mothers and fathers like Tertullian and Teresa of Avila to modern theologians like Karl Barth. Uniquely, this book is an academic study of the Lord’s Prayer with a focus on the rhetorical culture from which it developed as well as the theological, literary, and historical meanings of the prayer itself.
- Provides a systematic and comprehensive study of the Lord’s Prayer
- Surveys the history of related biblical interpretation
- Focuses on the theological, literary, and historical meanings
Part One: Getting Our Bearings
- The Religious World of the Lord’s Prayer
- Prayer in the Gospels
Part Two: Interpreting the Prayer: The First Table
- Our Heavenly Father
- The Consecrated Name
- Kingdom and Will
Part Three: Interpreting the Prayer: The Second Table
- Bread
- Debts and Forgiveness
- Rescue from Ultimate Danger and Evil
Part Four: Doxology and Conclusion
- Kingdom, Power, and Glory
- A Pastoral Coda
Top Highlights
“God’s eternal sovereignty, now invading human history. The fundamental difficulty does not lie in what the metaphor suggests, but in our readiness to appropriate and to ask for it. Embedded in this appeal is the collision of our kingdoms with that of God and our willingness to yield to an authority not our own.” (Pages 105–106)
“In antiquity names were more than mere labels; they expressed something essential about their bearers” (Page 84)
“The root of holiness, nevertheless, is God, who in every respect stands apart from all else.” (Page 91)
“Thy kingdom come’ is among the most difficult of this Prayer’s petitions to grasp, in part because ‘the kingdom of God’ (= ‘of heaven’) has proved to be among the most controversial features of Jesus’ teaching (see Chilton, Kingdom of God).” (Page 105)
“To praise God’s name is, therefore, tantamount to praising God” (Page 89)
Faced with this book on the Lord’s Prayer, I have three questions. Do I agree with all the interpretations? No, but the range of material discussed here is so rich that I can think about them afresh for myself. Did I go along with all the theology? No, but the larger context here, from the prayers of ancient Greece, Rome, and Israel to those of spiritual and theological giants of every age, has opened my eyes to unguessed treasures. Did it make me want to pray and give me fresh resources to do so? Yes. Abundantly. That’s what matters.
—N. T. Wright, former Bishop of Durham and Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St Andrews, Scotland
Clifton Black spreads a feast of learning and thought in this splendid volume on the Lord’s Prayer. In addition to a rich analysis of the prayer itself in the context of the Gospels and ancient culture, he shows its theological depth and its ecumenical possibilities. As lagniappe, he provides a glimpse of the history of the interpretation of Jesus’s prayer. A book valuable both to scholars and pastors.
—Luke Timothy Johnson, Robert W. Woodruff Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Christian Origins, Emory University
Clifton Black has long been regarded as one of our most sensitive and insightful readers of Scripture. Now Professor Black joins Jesus in teaching us how to pray in the name of Jesus. This is a beautiful, encouraging book that pastors and congregations will find quite useful in deepening their prayer life.
—Will Willimon, United Methodist Bishop (retired), Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry, Duke Divinity School, and author of How Odd of God: Chosen for the Curious Vocation of Preaching
C. Clifton Black is the Otto A. Piper Professor of Biblical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. He is the author of many books in New Testament studies, including The Rhetoric of the Gospel: Theological Artistry in the Gospels and Acts, 2nd ed., published by Westminster John Knox Press (2013).
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