The Lord s Prayer in the Early Church

Transcription

1 The Lord s Prayer in the Early Church

2 Also by Dr. Roy Hammerling Previous Publications: Roy Hammerling (editor) A HISTORY OF PRAYER: The First to the Fifteenth Century, 2008.

3 The Lord s Prayer in the Early Church The Pearl of Great Price Roy Hammerling palgrave macmillan

4 the lord s prayer in the early church Copyright Roy Hammerling, S o f t c o v e r r e p r i n t o f t h e h a r d c o v e r 1 s t e d i t i o n All rights reserved. First published in 2010 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN in the United States - a division of St. Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the World, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number , of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hammerling, Roy. The Lord s prayer in the early church : the pearl of great price / by Roy Hammerling. p. cm. 1. Lord s prayer History. 2. Church history Primitive and early church, ca I. Title. BV230.H dc Design by Integra Software Services First edition: September 2010 Special thanks to Brill Publications for granting permission to reprint three previous articles that have been revised and are included as parts of Chapter 3 in this book. The first is entitled in this volume as The Lord s Prayer in Baptismal Catechesis, which previously appeared under the title The Lord s Prayer: The Cornerstone of Early Baptismal Catechesis in a slightly different form in Roy Hammerling, ed., A History of Prayer: The First to the Fifteenth Century (Leiden: Brill, 2008), pp The second is a part of the section in this work entitled The Lord s Prayer in Theological Education, also found in the aforementioned volume, pp , in which it is entitled St. Augustine of Hippo: Prayer as Sacrament. And finally, the section in this book called The Lord s Prayer in Polemics is also found in the aforementioned work, pp , in which it is in a slightly different form and called The Lord s Prayer in Early Christian Polemics to the Eighth Century.

5 For Peggy In Memory of Pamela Jolicoeur October 21, 1944 June 9, 2010

6 Prayer is intimacy with God and contemplation of the invisible. It satisfies our yearnings and makes us equal to the angels. Through it good prospers, evil is destroyed, and sinners will be converted. Prayer is the enjoyment of things present and the substance of things to come. Prayer turned the whale into a home for Jonah (Jonah 2:1ff.); it brought Hezekiah back to life from the very gates of death (2 Kings 20:1ff.); it transformed the flames into a moist wind for the three children (Daniel 3:19ff.)...Past history furnishes thousands of other examples beside these which make it clear that of all the things valued in this life, nothing is more precious than prayer. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Lord s Prayer. Dearly beloved, you have received the faith by hearing; now listen to...the Lord s Prayer...The angels stand in awe at what you are going to hear today. Heaven marvels, earth trembles, flesh does not bear it, hearing does not grasp it, the mind does not penetrate it, all creation cannot sustain it. I do not dare to utter it, yet I cannot remain silent. May God enable you to hear and me to speak... Peter Chyrsologus, Sermon 67.

7 Contents List of Tables ix Acknowledgments xi Abbreviations xiii Introduction 1 1 The Pearl of Great Price 3 2 The Wondrous Origins of the Lord s Prayer 11 3 The Flowering of the Lord s Prayer Tradition 45 Conclusion: A Jewel of Unsurpassed Worth 123 Notes 133 Selected Bibliography 171 Index 187

8 List of Tables 2.1 The Lord s Prayer in Matthew and Luke The Sator Rotas Square The Sator Rotas Square Cross Tertullian s Version of the Lord s Prayer Juvencus Poetic Version of the Lord s Prayer Augustine s Exegetical Comparison in his Commentary On the Sermon on the Mount 96

9 Acknowledgments Fortunate are they who need to acknowledge so many that they will sadly leave someone out, and this is my case. So numerous are those who have helped me over the years with this manuscript that I am indeed indebted to a host of scholars, friends, and family members and alas, some who will go unnamed. Thanks to you all. First of all, I am grateful to the publishers, editors, and their staff for their careful work and help on this volume. I am especially thankful for the expert readers at Palgrave Macmillan who gave numerous useful suggestions and for the help of Burke Gerstenschlager, Afrin Kabir, Samantha Hasey, Rachel Tekula, and Kristy Lilas in shepherding this project to completion. I would like to thank all those who have given me clear, sound advice and careful counsel and encouragement. In particular, I cannot show enough appreciation to John Van Engen, who taught me to be a critical scholar and student of what he calls low-flying, in-depth scholarly analysis of texts. Likewise, I offer my sincere gratitude to Lisa Wolverton, Paul Savage, Karlfried Froehlich, Daniel Sheerin, William Dohar, David Fagerberg, Kathleen Biddick, John Cavadini, and numerous paper respondents at various conferences over the years. Those who have been worthy models for my scholarly life are the faculty and administration at Concordia College. My colleagues and friends who have supported me and at times read parts of this work, providing critical and kind emendations, include Jim Aageson, Somaya Abdullah, Ahmed Afzaal, Per Anderson, Jim Egge, Sam Giere, Jim Haney, Stewart Herman, Pam Jolicoeur, Joan Kopperud, Basit Koshul, Hilda Koster, Mark Krejci, Tammy Lanaghan, Les Meyer, Jan Pranger, Ernest Simmons, Elna Solvang, and Matt Stith, but especially Larry Alderink, Shawn Carruth, Rene Clausen, Nick Ellig, Michelle Lelwica, and David Sprunger. My deepest thanks to you all.

10 xii Acknowledgments My students at Concordia College have often provided inspiration and valuable insight. I thank them all, especially Sarah Rohde, Phil Abrahamson, and Michelle Urberg. Special thanks to those who helped with editing this book: I am deeply indebted to Kayla Goetz and her tireless, professional, and expert work reading over this manuscript and to the wonderful Mary Thornton and the religion department secretarial staff. Also, my deepest appreciation goes to Sharon Hoverson and the Concordia College library staff, who helped me get so many obscure books in dead languages through interlibrary loan. Of those who inspire me to seek after the good in life and to leave the rest, as William Caxton once said, I thank Ralph Quere, Ken Christopherson, Walt Pilgrm, Mark Bigott, Ted Kleinman, Kyle Pasewark, Mike Root, and the good people and staff of St. John Lutheran Church. Similarly, I would like to thank PACODES for their work in Sudan, especially Machien Justin Luoi and Gatkier Machar, Joan Kopperud, Mike Bath, Rick Chapman, Ron Twedt, and BethMarie Gooding, as well as Endless Eye Productions, especially Tom Clayton, Sean Fahey, and Jeremiah Hammerling. Finally, to my family in particular my dear wife, Peggy; my remarkable children, Jeremiah, Rachel, and Josh; my mother, Nelly; my father-in-law, Bill Ekberg; my sister, Evelyn, and her sons, Jon, Aaron, and Kevin and to my whole extended family especially Dan Tynan and David Turner; to all of you, my most humble and heartfelt thank you.

11 Abbreviations ACCS ACW ANF CCCM CCSL CIL CPL CSA CSCO CSEL EEC FC GCS IGR ILS LXX MGH MGH AA NPNF NRSV OGIS PG Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture Series Ancient Christian Writers Series Ante-Nicene Fathers Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis Corpus Christianiorum, Series Latina Corpus inscriptionum latinarum Clavis Patrum Latinorum Corpus Scriptorum Augustinianorum Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum Encyclopedia of the Early Church Fathers of the Church Series Die griechischen chrislichen Schriftsteller Inscriptiones graecae ad res romanas pertinentes Inscriptiones latinae selectee The Septuagint Monumenta Germaniae Historica Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Auctorum antiquissimorum Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers New Revised Standard Bible Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae Patrologia cursus completes: series graeca. Ed. J.-P. Migne, Paris,

12 xiv Abbreviations PL SBLSBS SC SSRM Patrologia cursus completes: series Latina. Ed. J.-P. Migne, Paris, SBL Sources for Biblical Study Sources Chrétiennes Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum