Posted on 02/28/2008 3:58:50 PM PST by forkinsocket
The best-known invocation in Christianity has its roots firmly in Jewish tradition. And, some believe the very public liturgy was meant as a protest against fixed, statutory, public prayer. Maybe McGuinty has a point
Lord, what a fuss over a prayer.
"So plainly simple, natural, and spontaneous," the Catholic Encyclopedia lauds the Lord's Prayer, yet, at a mere 57 words (in the original Greek), such a magnet for controversy in Ontario.
The prayer's fall from public grace began in 1988, when the Ontario Court of Appeal, citing the province's multicultural nature, struck down a regulation that required public schools to begin their day with the Lord's Prayer.
Eleven years later, the same court ruled that reciting the prayer before municipal council meetings was unconstitutional because it "imposed a Christian moral tone" on public deliberations.
Now, Premier Dalton McGuinty says it's time to "move beyond" the Lord's Prayer, which has been recited in the Legislature for more than 100 years, because it no longer reflects Ontario's diversity.
McGuinty's move has left more than a few citizens and politicians peeved. Reactions ranged from those advocating that the prayer should be kept not necessarily as a nod to Christianity but in recognition of Ontario's heritage; to those who would outlaw religious expression in the public square altogether; to people who believe Canada is a Christian country that must retain its Christian flavour.
Some would alternate the prayer with invocations from other faiths, while others have wondered whether the Lord's Prayer is ecumenical in spirit. How can anyone object to its universal teachings and ideals?
Known by Roman Catholics as the Our Father, or Pater Noster in Latin, the Lord's Prayer is probably the best-known prayer in Christianity, primarily because it is the only one authorized by Jesus himself.
It appears in two places in the New Testament. In the book of Matthew, it is part of Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, while in Luke's gospel, a disciple comes to Jesus and asks to be taught to pray in the way John the Baptist had taught his followers. Jesus obliges with the now-famous words (from the King James version):
"Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil."
Succinct. But where did he get it?
Hamilton's Rabbi Bernard Baskin, who has studied the prayer's roots, offers an explanation. "Jesus wasn't a pagan or a Greek. It came from the Jewish tradition almost phrase by phrase."
The Interpreter's Bible, a well-known Christian source, agrees. The Lord's Prayer "is thoroughly Jewish," it avers, and nearly every phrase is paralleled in the Jewish liturgy. "Thus it is Jesus's inspired and original summary of his own people's piety at its best."
Yet it is seen as a universal Christian prayer, used by Christians of all stripes. What makes it so is not its language, but the fact that it was promulgated by the founder of Christianity, says Father Dan Donovan, a theologian at St. Michael's College. In Luke's version, Jesus himself first prays, and then teaches the Lord's Prayer. "He is drawing us into his prayer," Donovan offers. "The (issue) is not so much the actual words, but the fact that Christians pray it as the prayer that Jesus taught, and in some sense, as a way of sharing in his prayer."
Besides, he adds, the prayer sounds obviously Christian themes like forgiveness, help in time of trial, and addressing God as "Our Father."
But then, plenty of Jewish sources do the same.
In his book Jesus and the Judaism of His Time, University of Toronto scholar Irving Zeitlin cites line-by-line parallels between the Lord's Prayer and the Jewish mourner's prayer, the Kaddish ("May (God) establish His kingdom during our lifetime and during the lifetime of Israel"), the Eighteen Benedictions ("Forgive us our Father, for we have sinned" is the sixth blessing), Talmudic prayer ("Lead me not into sin or iniquity or temptation or contempt," goes one) and other Hebrew scriptures in which we find "Give us this day our daily bread."
That means Jesus "brilliantly" condensed and concentrated important Jewish ethical teachings in a unique manner, and the Lord's Prayer sums up the essence of the Christian faith, says Darrell Johnson, a teacher at Vancouver's evangelical Regent College and author of Fifty-Seven Words That Change the World: A Journey Through the Lord's Prayer.
"The Lord's Prayer gathers up all of life and brings it before God. Jesus brings the wide range of concerns the Jews would bring to prayer and just boils them to these six petitions." (Five in Luke).
Which brings us to the differences between the two New Testament versions, and variances in different editions of the Bible. Though Matthew uses the term "debts" and "debtors," older English versions of the Lord's Prayer use the term "trespasses," while others, such as Luke, use "sins."
"To me, there is no problem," says Donovan.
Johnson says that as a teacher, Jesus probably offered the Lord's Prayer to his discipline "many times, and it may have been worded slightly differently in other cases as well." As for the final line in some texts, known as a doxology, scholars agree it was appended later and was in any case probably lifted from the Book of Chronicles, in which King David is quoted: "Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendour."
Johnson feels the Lord's Prayer is "so wonderfully inclusive that any religious orientation could pray this prayer." The "only glitch" he sees is the reference to "Our Father."
"That would be the bigger problem for a number of women who find it hard to address God in male language. If I were in leadership, I think I could nurture a climate that said, `This prayer, minus that problem, includes us all.'"
Baskin feels otherwise, saying it is "inappropriate" for Jews to recite the prayer because of the status it has achieved.
A final irony, so far as the situation in Ontario goes, is that Jesus preferred private prayer.
In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:6) he chides "hypocrites" who pray in public in order to be seen and heard, and "pagans" who "babble." Rather, he counsels the faithful: "When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen."
It's possible, Baskin points out, that the very public Lord's Prayer was meant as a protest against fixed, statutory, public prayer.
Ron Csillag is a freelance writer who lives in Thornhill.
I don’t see why Our Father should be an issue.
One of the most loved songs of the High Holy Days in the fall is Avinu Malchenu which means Our Father our King.
I wish I had the full English lyrics because it is a beautiful prayer.
Here are some:
Our Father, our King,
Be gracious unto us and answer us
For we are unworthy.
Deal with us in charity and loving-kindness
And save us.
It never ends the paganization never ends; it is even being done to the Lord’s prayer..what a shame (I doubt these blasphemers will be pleasing to God)!
If they can only do it if they deny Christ, then why do it?
It is true that right before the Our Father in the book of Matthew Jesus says:
“But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”
It takes a little humor to realize that the prayer outline given to the Apostles over time became something to repeat over and over again.
I also find it interesting that we get so upset about having the 10 commandments removed from the courthouse.
When most of us cannot even name the 10 commandments.
It was removed from our hearts long before it was taken out of the courthouse...
Let’s see
1) I am the Lord Your God, have no other Gods Before me
2) No Graven Images - Don’t bow before Images
3) Don’t take the name of the Lord in vain
4) Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy
5) Honor thy Father and Mother
6) Thou shalt not kill
7) Thou shalt not commit adultery
8) Thou shalt not steal
9) Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor
10) Thou shalt not covet anything of they neighbors
There they are, love em or leave em.
I 100% agree with you rickomatic.
ontario needs to move beyond Dalton. he is the Spitzer of Canada.
During the Sundays of Lent our church begins each service with the recitation of the Ten Commandments - The Decalogue.
9 ...Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
I learned it slightly differently.
Our Father who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
So when authorities take him up on this, his followers object?
I think it's a good start. If it were up to me I would add banning all the "pious" wife beaters from wearing head rags and their harems the burkkahs.
I had a teacher who had taught many years who one morning lead the class in the Lord’s prayer instead of the pledge. Nobody said a thing till she realized it a few minutes later. And that was the end of it, well until now.
The Dark Side is working hard to remove God from our lives, our civilization.
These are not random acts of political correctness, but a concerted effort that is slowly changing the landscape of society.
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