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Lord, Teach Us: The Lord's Prayer & the Christian Life
After a short introduction, the authors work through each phrase of the Lord's Prayer, using it as a framework for the Christian life. Providing basic faith understanding, this book will help the user experience Christianity as attractive and inviting, not distant, difficult, or foreboding.
113 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
32 people are currently reading
165 people want to read
About the author
Stanley Hauerwas
167 books287 followersStanley Hauerwas (PhD, Yale University) is the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. He is the author of numerous books, including Cross-Shattered Christ, A Cross-Shattered Church, War and the American Difference, and Matthew in the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible.
America's Best Theologian according to Time Magazine (2001), though he rejected the title saying, "Best is not a theological category."
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
January 24, 2018
I've been slowly conducting two studies.
The first one I came to surprisingly late in life, but it is a study of the person of Jesus. I found myself saying and even teaching things about Jesus without knowing why I thought them or where they came from. So I began a study of his place in history, his character, his understanding of his own purpose, and his life.
The second study is a study of biblically-informed relations between faith and politics. I haven't felt at ease with the Christian left, I'm directly opposed to much of the Christian right, and I've found Christian Anarchism helpful in some ways but confusing in others.
Few books have informed these two studies as much as the Gospel of Matthew, and the broad and rich teaching of this book finds its focal point in the Lord's Prayer in Matthew Chapter 6.
While I have my difficulties with Hauerwas's method in general, his dedication to the embodiment of biblical Christianity in the community of faith makes him an impassioned and insightful teacher on this text.
There are exclamation marks. There are broad and powerful statements. There are leaps from cosmic to the mundane and back. There is clarity about Jesus's self-understanding. Politics are addressed directly and clearly. There is reverence for revelation and acceptance of mystery. In short, the method matches the message neatly, and I felt my own understanding reshaped while reading this short and accessible study.
The first one I came to surprisingly late in life, but it is a study of the person of Jesus. I found myself saying and even teaching things about Jesus without knowing why I thought them or where they came from. So I began a study of his place in history, his character, his understanding of his own purpose, and his life.
The second study is a study of biblically-informed relations between faith and politics. I haven't felt at ease with the Christian left, I'm directly opposed to much of the Christian right, and I've found Christian Anarchism helpful in some ways but confusing in others.
Few books have informed these two studies as much as the Gospel of Matthew, and the broad and rich teaching of this book finds its focal point in the Lord's Prayer in Matthew Chapter 6.
While I have my difficulties with Hauerwas's method in general, his dedication to the embodiment of biblical Christianity in the community of faith makes him an impassioned and insightful teacher on this text.
There are exclamation marks. There are broad and powerful statements. There are leaps from cosmic to the mundane and back. There is clarity about Jesus's self-understanding. Politics are addressed directly and clearly. There is reverence for revelation and acceptance of mystery. In short, the method matches the message neatly, and I felt my own understanding reshaped while reading this short and accessible study.
May 9, 2019
In our day it is the trend to figure out what YOU believe and pick and choose what you believe. But Hauerwas and Willimon challenge us that we need to be formed by the Lord's Prayer. The church needs to be formed the Lord's prayer. We need to be be turned upside down by this gospel that reminds that God is the one we trust for OUR daily bread and that God has forgiven us so we can share and forgive. We are formed to live in God's will today, for his kingdom to come today. And that God is using his church for this. It is never us as individuals, but as his church. This is another important work from Hauerwas and Willimon that helps to be formed by the Gospel to be the people of this God who rose Jesus from the dead and will one day make all things new.
May 19, 2017
I’m so grateful for this book. It was such a blessing to me. Total gem — not a wasted sentence nor word.
I enjoy putting little post-it notes in the margins when reading to mark a sentence or paragraph that I think is worth returning to later. For such a slim work, it was flooded with a horrifying number of these little things all over the place. For a prayer that was supposed to seem so familiar, I couldn’t help but find myself surprised, perplexed at the newly found gravity of each phrase and word Christ taught his followers to pray. I feel so thankful for the attentiveness Hauerwas and Willimon possess, and I feel I can pray this prayer with immensely more attention now.
After reading Sarah Coakley’s first volume of systematics, I wanted to relearn how to pray — to better engage in a practice that I’ve found so difficult, and many times impossible, despite my many attempts over the years.
Hauerwas once wrote in an article: “For I take it to be crucial that Christians must live in a manner that their lives are unintelligible if the God we worship in Jesus Christ does not exist.”
Such an unintelligible mode of living undoubtedly includes prayer. For Hauerwas, the prayer of a Christian should not make sense outside of the internal grammar of Christianity. It should not easily, if at all, be rationalized from without. It is radically particular and weird. It is an almost irrational activity when considered externally. Hauerwas and Willimon write in this book: “Don’t pray this prayer if you don’t want to be odd.”
When tragedy descends and churches bow to prayer, they rightfully receive scorn. What good is prayer in a time like this? It doesn't seem to be comprehensible. Some quotes from the book might illustrate where Hauerwas and Willimon are coming from:
"The world attempts to convince us that things are in a terrible mess and it is up to us to set things right or things will never be right. The world tells a story that all suffering, confusion, or pain must be resolved now through earnest human efforts, drugs, economic development, or medical technology, or else life is damned. Violence is the inevitable result of the absence of a story that gives us the freedom to be patient, to take time."
(This quote is challenging for me to hear. I'm one of those Christians who feels like things need to get done! Hauerwas has been critical of theologians like Moltmann on issues like this, concerning 'control'. The task of the Christian, for Hauerwas, is not to gain power so that an agenda can be executed and ends can be achieved. He is a true Kierkegaardian in this sense, who cares far more deeply about the 'how' than the resulting 'what'. I suspect Hauerwas believes we should not have the arrogance to assume we can predict the future consequences of our calculated attempts to gain power. He likes to say, "it's persuasion all the way down". I've been torn between these tendencies, because I believe a lot in my notions of 'the good'. I'm in a moment right now where I'm leaning closer towards 'grace', but I get pulled to the other side quite often too. I think this quote mostly resonates with me because of my disillusionment with ideologies like 'effective altruism'.)
"Note that we began, not with moral problems and ethical dilemmas; we began with prayer. First learn to say these words, learn to pray in this way, learn to have your life bent in this direction. Then you will know how to live. Christians, like Jews, know no strong distinction between our worship and our ethics. We are people whose moral lives are shaped liturgically. Our ethics is a by-product of our worship."
"Those who are being formed by praying, "Our Father who art in heaven, holy be your name" are not permitted to abuse the holiness of God by attempting to put a leash on God, then dragging God into our crusades and cruelties. The holy God will not be jerked around in this way. So when a president prays a public prayer, calling upon God to bless our troops going into war, that is blasphemy. God's name is not to be used as a rubber stamp for our causes."
"As Luther once said, whatever you would offer your daughter for, that is your god. Most of us would not think of offering up our children to be killed, yet few of us question having our children register for military service. We justify this sacrifice of our children on the basis of our support for American democracy and freedom, but it may be more a matter of worship and prayer."
Very strong words. Throughout the prayer they also emphasize the plural words used, and the need for prayer to be a public affair — that is something done in community with friends who can help each other out — together. They are bold in their observations about how political this prayer really is — how dangerous it really is if we truly take it to heart. Watch out kingdoms of the world! ;)
A nice quote from the book to end on:
“Sometimes people say, ‘I often feel guilty that, when I’m praying the Lord’s prayer, I’m not really thinking about what I’m praying. I just say the words out of habit.’ Habit is good. Most of the really important things we do in life, we do out of habit. We eat, sleep, make love, shake hands, hug our children out of habit. Some things in life are too important to be left up to chance. Some things in life are too difficult to be left up to spontaneous desire—things like telling people that we love them or praying to God.”
I enjoy putting little post-it notes in the margins when reading to mark a sentence or paragraph that I think is worth returning to later. For such a slim work, it was flooded with a horrifying number of these little things all over the place. For a prayer that was supposed to seem so familiar, I couldn’t help but find myself surprised, perplexed at the newly found gravity of each phrase and word Christ taught his followers to pray. I feel so thankful for the attentiveness Hauerwas and Willimon possess, and I feel I can pray this prayer with immensely more attention now.
After reading Sarah Coakley’s first volume of systematics, I wanted to relearn how to pray — to better engage in a practice that I’ve found so difficult, and many times impossible, despite my many attempts over the years.
Hauerwas once wrote in an article: “For I take it to be crucial that Christians must live in a manner that their lives are unintelligible if the God we worship in Jesus Christ does not exist.”
Such an unintelligible mode of living undoubtedly includes prayer. For Hauerwas, the prayer of a Christian should not make sense outside of the internal grammar of Christianity. It should not easily, if at all, be rationalized from without. It is radically particular and weird. It is an almost irrational activity when considered externally. Hauerwas and Willimon write in this book: “Don’t pray this prayer if you don’t want to be odd.”
When tragedy descends and churches bow to prayer, they rightfully receive scorn. What good is prayer in a time like this? It doesn't seem to be comprehensible. Some quotes from the book might illustrate where Hauerwas and Willimon are coming from:
"The world attempts to convince us that things are in a terrible mess and it is up to us to set things right or things will never be right. The world tells a story that all suffering, confusion, or pain must be resolved now through earnest human efforts, drugs, economic development, or medical technology, or else life is damned. Violence is the inevitable result of the absence of a story that gives us the freedom to be patient, to take time."
(This quote is challenging for me to hear. I'm one of those Christians who feels like things need to get done! Hauerwas has been critical of theologians like Moltmann on issues like this, concerning 'control'. The task of the Christian, for Hauerwas, is not to gain power so that an agenda can be executed and ends can be achieved. He is a true Kierkegaardian in this sense, who cares far more deeply about the 'how' than the resulting 'what'. I suspect Hauerwas believes we should not have the arrogance to assume we can predict the future consequences of our calculated attempts to gain power. He likes to say, "it's persuasion all the way down". I've been torn between these tendencies, because I believe a lot in my notions of 'the good'. I'm in a moment right now where I'm leaning closer towards 'grace', but I get pulled to the other side quite often too. I think this quote mostly resonates with me because of my disillusionment with ideologies like 'effective altruism'.)
"Note that we began, not with moral problems and ethical dilemmas; we began with prayer. First learn to say these words, learn to pray in this way, learn to have your life bent in this direction. Then you will know how to live. Christians, like Jews, know no strong distinction between our worship and our ethics. We are people whose moral lives are shaped liturgically. Our ethics is a by-product of our worship."
"Those who are being formed by praying, "Our Father who art in heaven, holy be your name" are not permitted to abuse the holiness of God by attempting to put a leash on God, then dragging God into our crusades and cruelties. The holy God will not be jerked around in this way. So when a president prays a public prayer, calling upon God to bless our troops going into war, that is blasphemy. God's name is not to be used as a rubber stamp for our causes."
"As Luther once said, whatever you would offer your daughter for, that is your god. Most of us would not think of offering up our children to be killed, yet few of us question having our children register for military service. We justify this sacrifice of our children on the basis of our support for American democracy and freedom, but it may be more a matter of worship and prayer."
Very strong words. Throughout the prayer they also emphasize the plural words used, and the need for prayer to be a public affair — that is something done in community with friends who can help each other out — together. They are bold in their observations about how political this prayer really is — how dangerous it really is if we truly take it to heart. Watch out kingdoms of the world! ;)
A nice quote from the book to end on:
“Sometimes people say, ‘I often feel guilty that, when I’m praying the Lord’s prayer, I’m not really thinking about what I’m praying. I just say the words out of habit.’ Habit is good. Most of the really important things we do in life, we do out of habit. We eat, sleep, make love, shake hands, hug our children out of habit. Some things in life are too important to be left up to chance. Some things in life are too difficult to be left up to spontaneous desire—things like telling people that we love them or praying to God.”
May 15, 2022
A fantastic reflection on the Lord's prayer. I highly recommend.
"We would not know how to pray had not Jesus taught us."
"In teaching us to pray, Jesus is making us more truthful, more faithful. Jesus is making us his disciples. In praying, our lives are being bent away from their natural inclinations toward God."
"We would not know how to pray had not Jesus taught us."
"In teaching us to pray, Jesus is making us more truthful, more faithful. Jesus is making us his disciples. In praying, our lives are being bent away from their natural inclinations toward God."
July 28, 2019
This had sat unread on my shelf for years, despite my appreciation for both Hauerwas and Willimon This is a look at the way the Lord's prayer is spiritually formational. I admit to reading this one rather quick, as part of sermon prep, but I plan to dig back in soon.
November 26, 2017
I read this together with Praying the Lord's Prayer by J.I. Packer, The Lord and His Prayer by N.T. Wright, and The Prayer of the Lord by R.C. Sproul, and I would rank them as follows:
1a. Sproul
1b. Packer
2. Wright
3. Willimon and Hauerwas
Lord, Teach Us had its moments, and they were right where you would expect them, given the background of the authors. The ethical and social elements of the Lord's Prayer were highlighted well, and the authors did a great job showing the moral, social, and political implications of the Lord's Prayer. We are to pray for, and strive to bring about, God's Kingdom here on earth, in real ways. The Lord's Prayer is deeply socio-political, and the authors did a fine job of bring that out.
That being said, there were too many times when the book felt disorganized. Maybe it's the nature of co-authoring a book, and the editor didn't do a good enough job making their thoughts seamless, but the disjointed nature of it was distracting at times.
In addition, there seemed to be an underlying moral exemplarism and to often the authors seemed to stray from the text in order to get their ideals across.
Overall, I am thankful for the book and the authors' ability to bring the real-world implications to bear on what is often and unfortunately a rote, overspiritualized prayer, but the deficiencies were too much to give it more than 2 stars.
1a. Sproul
1b. Packer
2. Wright
3. Willimon and Hauerwas
Lord, Teach Us had its moments, and they were right where you would expect them, given the background of the authors. The ethical and social elements of the Lord's Prayer were highlighted well, and the authors did a great job showing the moral, social, and political implications of the Lord's Prayer. We are to pray for, and strive to bring about, God's Kingdom here on earth, in real ways. The Lord's Prayer is deeply socio-political, and the authors did a fine job of bring that out.
That being said, there were too many times when the book felt disorganized. Maybe it's the nature of co-authoring a book, and the editor didn't do a good enough job making their thoughts seamless, but the disjointed nature of it was distracting at times.
In addition, there seemed to be an underlying moral exemplarism and to often the authors seemed to stray from the text in order to get their ideals across.
Overall, I am thankful for the book and the authors' ability to bring the real-world implications to bear on what is often and unfortunately a rote, overspiritualized prayer, but the deficiencies were too much to give it more than 2 stars.
February 17, 2024
I read four books on prayer this week, including Richard Foster’s classic on prayer; as well as three books on the Lord’s Prayer. I would rank them as 1.) NT Wright, 2.) Adam Hamilton, and this one would be a distant third. It just came off to me as I was being written down to by a couple of pompous professors from Duke Divinity School. Oh yeah, they are professors at Duke.
And they totally ignored and didn’t write even one word of the most common usage of “… lead us not into temptation…”. Even if their translation of “save us from the time of trial” is more correct (and I’m not sure it is), any book on this prayer must address the most commonly used phrasing.
And they totally ignored and didn’t write even one word of the most common usage of “… lead us not into temptation…”. Even if their translation of “save us from the time of trial” is more correct (and I’m not sure it is), any book on this prayer must address the most commonly used phrasing.
July 14, 2025
Picked up this book at McKays to do some easy reading and take a break from Niebuhr. It's an easy read, and like their books on the Decalogue and Nationalism, serves as a wonderful introduction into ecclesiology. It is somewhat obvious that this book was written for church small groups, and for that purpose, it challenges the layperson to consider God's kingdom in a kind of revitalized way in all the ways a good introductory book should. The church is not simply as a group that gathers on Sunday, but is a different nation. Perhaps some might even call us... resident aliens.
January 8, 2018
Like most things these two write this is very much worth reading. Encouraged me to pray, helped me to pray better, gave insight into the ethical dimensions of prayer. Don’t make this the only book you read on the Lords Prayer, or prayer in general, but read this.
December 29, 2022
A helpful introduction to not only the Lord’s Prayer but also the Christian faith in general. Key strengths that I found helpful were the authors attention to the plural language of the prayer and the prayer’s application to modern life.
March 7, 2023
This was an interesting deep dive into The Lord's Prayer. After breaking it down line by line, it's easy to see why this really is the perfect prayer. Our bible study group enjoyed the discussion. Willimon and Hauerwas are two of my favorites.
June 28, 2020
The Lord's Prayer
I found the book to be very well written. Though it was not an academic read, I found the content extremely helpful to those initiating their journey with Jesus.
I found the book to be very well written. Though it was not an academic read, I found the content extremely helpful to those initiating their journey with Jesus.
November 20, 2020
By praying the Lord's Prayer we participate in the gospel narrative.
July 21, 2021
Simple and profound. The use of other scriptures throughout is very enlightening. Anyone can read this and should benefit from the perspective that is offered.
October 14, 2022
4.5/5
A little repetitive at times but chock-full of goodies.
A little repetitive at times but chock-full of goodies.
November 14, 2022
An easy to read but well thought out meditation on the Lord's Prayer and how it relates to our lives as followers of Jesus.
September 26, 2023
A wonderful and concise treatise on the prayer of prayers.
September 3, 2014
Willimon and Hauerwas have written many books together or separately, and this is a book I picked up to use for a sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount, particularly the Lord's or Disciples' prayer. There is nothing more important than the relationship with we have with God, and "Lord, teach us to pray" may have been one of the best requests ever made by the otherwise sometimes hardheaded -- like all of us -- disciples.
February 15, 2013
I have read this book a few times. It is a great book to continue to revisit and look at how the Lords Prayer is shaped and is meant to guide us.
April 19, 2015
Good reads
Chosen as a BIble study at our church. Although not for a beginner, very insightful for a seasoned Christian. Very thought-provoking.
Chosen as a BIble study at our church. Although not for a beginner, very insightful for a seasoned Christian. Very thought-provoking.
March 16, 2016
A good line by line look at the Lord's Prayer - readable with solid theology. Exactly what I would expect from these two authors.
March 2, 2016
Mostly a 3.5 star book, but bumped to four, because I'll return to it the next time I preach on the Lord's Prayer.
February 2, 2017
A delightful series of reflections on the Lord's Prayer.
July 31, 2022
An excellent look at the Lord’s Prayer and the significance it has for followers of Christ.
Read
December 21, 2024A few question marks were jotted in the margins to think about more critically, but altogether, this book was solid and helpful.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews