Article May 12, 1997 ISSUE

On the Lord's Prayer

Tom Harpur

The Toronto Star

What I want to share are thoughts about the archetypal prayer of all time, commonly called the Lord's Prayer. My thinking was push-started last week when a reader called to get advice on a discussion he is having. His friend, a Jew, is arguing that this prayer is really a Jewish prayer and not just the property of Christians.

There's much to be said for that view. Jesus was and remained a pious Jew all his life. There's not a word in the prayer that a strict Jew of his day could not have uttered in complete fidelity to the God of Moses, of Israel, and of the cosmos. Historically, however, it has been so identified with Christianity that it has become the quintessential Christian prayer. So, in a way, both sides of that debate are right. ...

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