Original Prayer: Teachings and Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus

The Prayer of Jesus, or the Lord's Prayer, is among Christianity's most beloved teachings, a daily devotion practiced by Christians everywhere. If we could travel back in time to the ancient Holy Land-and witness Jesus himself speaking and meditating upon these words-what would we learn? On Original Prayer, acclaimed teacher and author Neil Douglas-Klotz, Ph.D., immerses us in the language and philosophy of Jesus' world to reveal a practice with the power to forever change the way we experience sacred scripture. Neil Douglas-Klotz begins by revealing the rich layers of meaning enfolded within the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic-the language that Jesus and his disciples actually spoke. Through his insightful Aramaic translations, Douglas-Klotz opens a window into the Lord's Prayer that allows us to hear and understand the teachings of Jesus as he authentically taught them 2,000 years ago. Verse by verse, Original Prayer guides us through a series of 24 specific practices of "body prayer"-the original Middle Eastern form of meditation that uses chant, breathing, and awareness to engage the entire body and spirit in contemplation of scripture. These are the same kinds of devotions used by the first Christians to delve into the Gospels-not as a scholarly exercise, but as a living and breathing experience of God. In the fertile spiritual landscape of the ancient Middle East, prayer, meditation, and scriptural study were practiced as a single contemplative path. Now, with Original Prayer, you have within your reach the definitive resource for experiencing this luminous practice, using one of the most enduring cornerstones of the Christian faith-the Lord's Prayer.