Recalling the Lord's Prayer: The authorial audience and...

The article focuses on the Lord's Prayer in the Bible's Book of Matthew, chapter 6, in light of speech act theory and the social meaning of the prayer's ritual to it audience. The author argues for the prayer's evocation of the audience's previous liturgical experience and its importance to the prayer. Topics include the social effects of ritual according to biblical scholar Tom Driver, the aspect of time in the prayer, and the role of community in the prayer's reception and meaning.