“After this manner therefore pray ye”: Puritan Perspectives on the Lord’s Prayer

Let us have a great esteem of the Lord’s prayer; let it be the model and pattern of all our prayers.

                                                                                                                                                Thomas Watson

When Jesus says, “After this manner therefore pray ye,” what does He mean? Is He telling His disciples to pray the exact words of the Lord’s Prayer, is He telling them to just use this prayer as a pattern, or perhaps both? Is the Lord’s Prayer a set form (a set order of words to pray), a pattern (a sample of prayer), or both? This article, after briefly surveying some works on the Lord’s Prayer from patristic to Puritan periods, will deal with these questions, specifically focusing on how the Puritans understood Jesus’ words concerning how to pray.

Click here to read my entire article.

See also “‘After this manner therefore pray ye’: Puritan Perspectives on the Lord’s Prayer,” Puritan Reformed Journal 4, no. 2 (2012): 158-69.