When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, he uttered a brief prayer-less than seventy words-that has become the essence of Christian faith. Multitudes repeat the Lord's Prayer daily or weekly, but the simple prayer that unites Christians also divides them. Interpretations of the Lord's Prayer vary, as do the ways in which the prayer is used. Our task, then, is to understand what Jesus' prayer meant when it was first spoken, and what it means for us today.
In Abba Father, Kenneth Stevenson superbly weaves together biblical, historical, and theological wisdom to illuminate the different versions of the prayer we have in their Gospel contexts, and the prayer's literary shape. Stevenson writes as a priest and pastoral counselor as he discusses the prayer's public and private use, and the way it summarizes the entire gospel and provides a pattern for Christian living.
Kenneth Stevenson is the Anglican bishop of Portsmouth, where he lives, and a member of the Doctrine Commission of the Church of England. He is the author of numerous books, including The Mystery of Baptism in the Anglican Tradition and The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Anglican Tradition.
