The Lord's Prayer: Confessing the New Covenant

by Warren J. Smith

Publisher:

Cascade Books

, 2015

Overview

We have all had the experience of being at church and hearing the pastor say, “And now with the confidence of children we are bold to pray, ‘Our Father . . .’" but before we know it we are saying "for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” In the very moment of intimacy when we are given the privilege of entering the presence of our heavenly Father, our minds have drifted off. We speak the words of the prayer, not from our hearts, but from the autopilot of memory. This is mere recitation, not prayer. If in relationships familiarity breeds contempt, in the case of the Lord’s Prayer, familiarity breeds thoughtlessness. The Lord’s Prayer: Confessing the New Covenant is not a Bible study in the traditional sense. It challenges us to think about the Lord’s Prayer anew by understanding it as a confession of the New Covenant that Christ makes with us when we are made children of God in baptism. In hearing these familiar words afresh we learn to remember our baptismal covenant so that we might live more fully into that new relationship with God and with one another.

Praise for The Lord's Prayer

”Warren Smith draws upon the riches of the church’s heritage, as well as his own extensive knowledge of Scripture, tradition, and contemporary literature, to give eloquent testimony to the power of the Lord’s Prayer. Smith is a master teacher who has a gift for drawing students into passionate engagement with the faith, a deeply committed Christian who believes what he writes, and a gifted writer who ignites fresh insight on nearly every page. Jesus’s disciples asked him, ’Teach us to pray . . . .” Warren Smith does just that in his beautiful book."
--Will Willimon, Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry, Duke Divinity School, Durham, NC

“Warren Smith is the kind of teacher whom local churches hope their pastor will take. He takes seriously the Bible, the early church, Wesley, prayer, and good humor. All are on display in this accessible volume written with the whole church in mind. Read--and find yourself praying."
--Jason Byassee, pastor, Boone United Methodist Church, Boone, NC

“I can think of no one I’d rather teach me to pray than Warren Smith. He’s a pastoral scholar and his pastoral counsel is scholarly, and this is the case without condescension or any loss of clarity. Smith’s book sheds warm light on the familiar words of Scripture and the familiar practice of praying as Jesus taught us to pray. Smith’s wise and fatherly voice in this book will help readers to better know the Father of Jesus Christ."
--Beth Felker Jones, Associate Professor of Theology, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL

"Written with historical insight, theological acuity, and pastoral sensitivity (a rare combination), this book deserves a wide readership among those who want to more faithfully pray and live the prayer that Jesus taught us."
--L. Roger Owens, Associate Professor of Leadership and Ministry, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh, PA

Product Details

• Title : The Lord's Prayer: Confessing the New Covenant
• Author: Smith, J. Warren
• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Publication Date: 2015
• ISBN: 9781630878986

About Warren J. Smith

J. Warren Smith, Associate Professor of Historical Theology, is interested in the history of theology broadly conceived from the apostles to the present, but his primary focus is upon patristic theology. His book, Passion and Paradise: Human and Divine Emotion in the Thought of Gregory of Nyssa (Crossroad, 2004) is a study of Nyssen’s ascetic theology as the intersection of his anthropology, soteriology, and eschatology. Central to this project is Nyssen’s view of the sublimation and transformation of human emotions and their role in his theory of epectacy, i.e. the soul’s eternal movement into God’s infinite and eternal being.The impetus behind the book was Dr. Smith’s concern for the question of realized eschatology:how can we in the present age live into the eschatological reality inaugurated by Christ’s resurrection?; The study examines Nyssen’s account of the Christian’s proleptic participation in Christ’s eschatological Kingdom through a life of asceticism that disciplines the body with its appetites and of contemplation that focuses the intellect upon God’s self-revelation in the divine economy. Dr. Smith’s current project centers on the theological foundation of Ambrose of Milan’s teachings on the life of virtue. While a pervious generation of Ambrosian scholars have focused their study on the question of Ambrose’s sources, pagan (e.g. Cicero, Plotinus) and Judeo-Christian (Philo and Origen), this project builds upon and yet presses the horizon of that scholarly investigation to examine how Ambrose’s theological commitments influenced his appropriation and adaptation of his philosophical and exegetical sources. Specifically, this book explores how Ambrose understands the work of grace in baptism to heal the corruption of sin upon human nature and empowers that nature for a greater degree of virtue than the training of non-Christian philosophers by itself. The theological concern behind this project is a critique of Kant’s reduction of religion to ethics such that theology and dogma (often the source of division and conflict) can be dismissed. For Ambrose, by contrast, one’s understanding of the divine economy changes how one understands the life of virtue and the character of the cardinal virtues, wisdom, justice, temperance, and fortitude. Having laid out Ambrose’s anthropology, view of Law and grace, and the transformation of baptism, the study ends with a comparison of Aristotle’s account of the supremely virtuous individual, the Magnanimous Man, and Ambrose’s presentation of magnanimity manifest in the lives of Israel’s patriarchs and Christ. Research projects on the horizon include studies of 1) Ante-Nicene Christology with particular emphasis upon Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, 2) the significance of the patristic Christian Platonist tradition for Christianity in a “post-modern†age, and 3) the appropriation of classical theories of oratory in patristic preaching. Dr. Smith is also a United Methodist minister from the North Georgia Annual Conference. He lives in Durham with his wife, Kimberly Doughty who is a school social worker, and their children, Katherine and Thomas. His interests outside of Duke Divinity School include hiking, studying the American Civil War and 19th century British history, and ACC basketball (men’s and women’s).

Show More