Teach Us to Pray: Prayer in the Bible and the World

by D. A. Carson

Publisher:

Wipf and Stock

, 1990

Overview

A unique book on prayer, containing a detailed analysis of the biblical theology of prayer, a survey of spirituality in various religions, and lessons in prayer from the worldwide church concluded with personal insights from some key leaders. In all, a full library on the subject, conserving the best insights of the past and breaking new ground with penetrating original thinking. This volume containing twenty chapters contributed by a international team and edited by D A Carson for the WEF Theological Commission’s Faith and Church Study Unit is the third in the series.

Contents and Contributors

• 1. Learning to Pray - D. A. Carson

Part One: Biblical Theology of Prayer

• 2. Prayer in the Old Testament Outside the Psalms - Howard Peskett, Research Department Director Overseas Missionary Fellowship, Singapore
• 3. Prayer in the Psalms - Kyu Nam Jung, Professor of Old Testament Asia United Theological College and Asian Center for Theological Studies and Mission, Seoul, Korea
• 4. Prayer in the Gospels and Acts - M. M. B. Turner, Lecturer in New Testament King’s College, University of Aberdeen, Scotland
• 5. Prayer in Paul’s Writings - David G. Peterson, Head of the Department of Ministry Moore College, Sydney, Australia
• 6. Prayer in the General Epistles - David G. Peterson, Head of the Department of Ministry Moore College, Sydney, Australia
• 7. Prayer in Revelation - Esther Yue L. Ng, Chief Editor CGST Journal and Adjunct Lecturer, China Graduate School of Theology, Hong Kong
• 8. A Biblical Theology of Prayer - Edmund P. Clowney, Teacher-in-Residence, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Charlottesville, VA, USA

Part Two: Prayer and Spirituality

• 9. A Christian View of Prayer and Spirituality in Hindu Thought - Sunand Sumithra, formerly Executive Secretary, Theological Commission, World Evangelical Fellowship, Bangalore, India
• 10. A Christian View of Prayer and Spirituality in Buddhist Thought - Masao Uenuma, Professor of Systematic Theology, Japan Bible Seminary, Tokyo, Japan
• 11. A Christian View of Prayer and Spirituality in Muslim Thought - Michael Nazir-Ali, Anglican Bishop, Assistant to the Archibishop of Canterbury, Oxford, England
• 12. An Evangelical View of Prayer and Spirituality in Roman Catholicism (with special reference to Latin America) - Emilio Antonio Núñez, Principal Seminario Teologica Centroamericano, Guatemala

Part Three: Some Lessons in Prayer from the World-Wide Church

• 13. Lessons from the Prayer Habits of the Church in Korea Appendix: Can Revivals Be Prepared for by Man? - Myung Hyuk Kim, Professor of Historical Theology, Hapdong Theological Seminary, General Secretary, Korea Evangelical Fellowship, Seoul, Korea
• 14. Lessons from the Prayer Habits of the Church in China - David Wang, Executive Vice President, Asian Outreach International Hong Kong
• 15. Lessons from the Prayer Habits of the Church in Latin America - Pablo E. Pérez, Executive Secretary, Commission on Church Renewal, World Evangelical Fellowship, Dallas, TX, USA
• 16. Lessons from the Prayer Habits of the Church in Africa - Tite Tiénou, Associate Professor of Theology and Missiology, Alliance Seminary, Nyack, NY, USA
• 17. Lessons from the Prayer Habits of the Puritans - Roy Williams, Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology, Acadia Divinity College, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada

Part Four: The Challenge to Pray

• 18. Prayer and the Training of Christian Leadership - Russell Shedd, Professor of New Testament, Faculdade Teologica Batista de São Paulo, Brazil
• 19. Personal Experience of Prayer I - Felicity D. Houghton, Member of South American Missionary Society, seconded to International Federation of Evangelical Students, La Paz, Bolivia
• 20. Personal Experience of Prayer II - David H. Adeney, Minister-at-Large for the Overseas Missionary Fellowship, Berkeley, CA, USA

Top Highlights

“One of the most startling truths about prayer is this: prayer can be taught and learnt. Once the disciples have enjoyed the opportunity to observe Jesus at prayer, they ask him to teach them how to pray, as John the Baptist once taught his disciples to pray. The Master does not rebuke them for their impertinence; still less does he deride the naïveté that dares to think prayer can be taught. Instead, he provides them with a model prayer, designed less as a piece of ecclesiastical liturgy than as a teaching device to foster their own praying and provide them with a standard (Luke 11:1ff.).” (Page 13)

“Evangelicalism in much of the world is going through a process of fragmentation that is rapidly losing a spirituality based on the Word. The Word has been so poorly handled, and societal and ecclesiastical pressures have been so strong, that many who wrap themselves in the term ‘Evangelical’ have chosen to pursue a spirituality of aesthetics, a spirituality of experience, a spirituality of liturgy, a spirituality of mysticism. There is much to be learned from all of these traditions; there is even more to be lost by abandoning what I have called a spirituality of the Word.” (Pages 14–15)

“Prayer is implicitly understood as man’s address to God.” (Page 36)

“In truth, one’s prayers and one’s concept of prayer can rise no higher than one’s concept of God. The heart of biblical and Christian prayer is the God who is its focus and fountain, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Page 28)

“prayer is personal address to a personal God: ‘Our Father, which art in heaven.…’” (Page 136)

Product Details

• Title: Teach Us to Pray: Prayer in the Bible and the World
• Author: D. A. Carson
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Print Publication Date: 1990
• Logos Release Date: 2003
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Prayer › Biblical teaching; Prayer › Christianity; Prayer › Comparative studies; Evangelicalism
• ISBNs: 9781592440498, 1592440495, 9780801025372, 9780853644958, 0801025370, 0853644950
• Resource ID: LLS:42.50.5
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-28T20:20:37Z

About D. A. Carson

D.A. Carson (b. 1946) is one of the most respected New Testament scholars in the world. A respected teacher, author, and speaker, he is currently research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and the president of The Gospel Coalition. He has served as pastor of Richmond Baptist Church and as the first dean of the seminary of Northwest Baptist Theological College, now known as Northwest Baptist Seminary. Logos has collected his sermons—including audio—in the D.A. Carson Sermon Archive.

Carson lectures in academic and church settings around the world, and is the author of more than 50 books, including Exegetical Fallacies, Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel According to John, The Gagging of God, Showing the Spirit: A Theological Exposition of 1 Corinthians 12–14 and the Intolerance of Tolerance. He is the editor of the Pillar New Testament Commentary series, and coedited of the Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament with G.K. Beale, and the Studies in New Testament Greek series with Stanley Porter. You can find more of Carson’s work in the Baker D.A. Carson Collection (15 vols.).