The Greatest Prayer: Rediscovering the Revolutionary Message
Written by John Dominic Crossan
Narrated by Walter Dixon
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Every Sunday, the Lord’s Prayer echoes in churches around the world.
It is an indisputable principle of Christian faith. It is the way Jesus taught his followers to pray and distills the most essential beliefs required of every one of the world’s 2.5 billion Christians. In The Greatest Prayer, our foremost Jesus scholar explores this foundational prayer line by line for the richest and fullest understanding of a prayer every Christian knows by heart.
An expert on the historical Jesus, Crossan provides just the right amount of history, scholarship, and detail for us to rediscover why this seemingly simple prayer sparked a revolution. Addressing issues of God’s will for us and our response, our responsibilities to one another and to the earth, the theology of our daily bread, the moral responsibilities that come with money, our nation-states, and God’s kingdom, Crossan reveals the enduring meaning and universal significance of the only prayer Jesus ever taught.
John Dominic Crossan
John Dominic Crossan, professor emeritus at DePaul University, is widely regarded as the foremost historical Jesus scholar of our time. He is the author of several bestselling books, including The Historical Jesus, How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian, God and Empire, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, The Greatest Prayer, The Last Week, and The Power of Parable. He lives in Minneola, Florida.
More audiobooks from John Dominic Crossan
The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Birth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Render Unto Caesar: The Struggle Over Christ and Culture in the New Testament Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church's Conservative Icon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to The Greatest Prayer
Related audiobooks
The Difficult Words of Jesus: A Beginner's Guide to His Most Perplexing Teachings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sermon on the Mount: A Beginner's Guide to the Kingdom of Heaven Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making Sense of the Bible: Rediscovering the Power of Scripture Today Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Case for the Psalms: Why They Are Essential Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Creation and the Cross: The Mercy of God for a Planet in Peril Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Connecting Like Jesus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Acting in the Wake: Prayers for Justice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSaving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus: The Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Entering the Passion of Jesus: A Beginner's Guide to Holy Week Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Evolution of the Word: The New Testament in the Order the Books Were Written Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Speaking Christian: Why Christian Words Have Lost Their Meaning and Power—And How They Can Be Restored Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eternal Life: A New Vision Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Convictions: How I Learned What Matters Most Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jesus for the Non-Religious Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Light of the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Reading the Bible Again for the First Time Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Witness at the Cross: A Beginner's Guide to Holy Friday Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDays of Awe and Wonder: How to Be a Christian in the Twenty-first Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Introduction to the Old Testament, Third Edition: The Canon and Christian Imagination Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Paul: The Pagans' Apostle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Religion & Spirituality For You
Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Screwtape Letters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Counting the Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Enoch the Prophet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Like a River: Finding the Faith and Strength to Move Forward after Loss and Heartache Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Letter to a Christian Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values, and Spritual Growth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Weight of Glory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Sex Rescue: The Lies You've Been Taught and How to Recover What God Intended Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Power to Change: Mastering the Habits That Matter Most Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Problem of Pain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Conversations with God: An Uncommon Dialogue, Book 1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wake Up With Purpose!: What I’ve Learned in my First Hundred Years Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An Exorcist Tells His Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Comedy Sex God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Women of the Bible Speak: The Wisdom of 16 Women and Their Lessons for Today Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Awe of God: The Astounding Way a Healthy Fear of God Transforms Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for The Greatest Prayer
5 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I like John Dominic Crossan and what he has to say, but I've occasionally thought that he practices a certain "sleight of hand" in reaching his conclusions. I found that true in several places in this book. Take his exegesis of the petition, "lead us not into temptation." His argument is that this plea is SPECIFICALLY to lead us not into the temptation to do violence. Taking various other gospel passages, he demonstrates how Jesus was an advocate of non-violence. That's fair. I myself happen to believe that's true. But then he makes the leap to conclude that the petition in the Lord's Prayer was itself also about non-violence, to the exclusion of all else. I'm not fully convinced that the strength of his argument in one case justified his making that leap. Really--was a temptation to violence ALL Jesus had in mind?
Jesus' proclamation may indeed have been about a Realm of justice and righteousness, with his prayer being an expression of that proclamation. But within that context, I believe it was also meant to hold hope for his followers, rather than merely to narrowly prescriptive.2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A really wonderful meditation on "The Lord's Prayer" filled with history and Biblical exegesis. I find Crossan to be a wonderful historian but occasionally a confusing writer which is unfortunate. Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book. It's a wonderful exploration of the revolutionary power of a prayer most people take for granted. Crossan put it back into its original context and expounds on why the prayer would have been so revolutionary. I think Crossan could have gone further with his ideas about what the prayer means to us today. There is a lot of overlap of his explanation of the historical understandings of this prayer and christian anarchism which I found to be very interesting.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Una oración desde el corazón del judaísmo, a los labios del cristianismo, a la conciencia del mundo.