The Disciples' Prayer: The Prayer Jesus Taught in Its Historical Setting

by Jeffrey B. Gibson

Christians around the world recite the “Lord’s Prayer” daily, but what exactly are they praying for—and what relationship does it have with Jesus’ own context? Jeffrey B. Gibson reviews scholarship that derives the so-called Lord’s 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. Gibson’s conclusions offer new insights into the historical Jesus and the movement he sought to establish.

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2015

About the author

Jeffrey B. Gibson is adjunct instructor of humanities and religious studies at Harry S. Truman College in Chicago, Illinois. A graduate of the University of Oxford, he is the author of The Temptations of Jesus in Early Christianity(1995) and has published articles and reviews in the Journal of Theological Studies, The Bible Translator, The Expository Times, Religion, The Journal for the Study of the New Testament, The Dictionary of New Testament Background, Eerdman's Dictionary of the Bible, and The Encyclopedia of the Historical Jesus.