In the 1990 English edition of The Lord’s Prayer by Jan Milíč Lochman, Lochman opens with a claim that sets the tone for the entire work:
“If there is a single text which binds all ecumenical Christianity together, and which is recalled not merely occasionally but unanimously in almost all services in all churches, it is the Lord’s Prayer” (Lochman 1990, x).
This conviction frames Lochman’s project. He approaches the Lord’s Prayer not as a devotional aside, but as the prayer that most clearly reveals the Church’s shared faith, practice, and hope through an ecumenical lens.
Theology, History, and Prayer Together
Throughout The Lord’s Prayer, Lochman reads Jesus’ prayer through both evangelical and catholic lenses, allowing Scripture and church history to shape interpretation. Prayer, for Lochman, is never detached from belief or practice. As he states plainly, “Prayer is the response and vital side of faith” (Lochman 1990, 5).
He aims to give followers of Jesus a theological and contextual lens for praying the words Jesus taught—words that shape identity, discipleship, and community.
Author, Context, and Scope
This English edition was translated by Geoffrey W. Bromley and published in 1990 by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. Geoffrey William Bromiley (7 March 1915 – 7 August 2009) was an English ecclesiastical historian and Anglican theologian who taught Church History and Historical Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary from 1958 to 1987, retiring as professor emeritus. His translation of The Lord’s Prayer by Jan Milíč Lochman helped bring Lochman’s work to the United States. The work was initially published in German in 1988 as Unser Vater.
Lochman was a Czech-Swiss Protestant theologian who served as Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Basel. Beyond his academic work, he was deeply engaged in the life of the global Church. He worked with the World Council of Churches, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Christian Peace Conference, seeking reconciliation and peace during the Cold War. Lochman’s theological voice is shaped as much by pastoral concern and lived history as by scholarly rigor.
Structure of The Lord’s Prayer by Jan Milíč Lochman
At just under 200 pages, the book unfolds carefully and deliberately. After a preface and introduction—covering topics such as praying and drumming, modes of prayer, identity in prayer, and “the prayer of prayers”—Lochman moves petition by petition through the Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
Forgive us our debts
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
The doxology (“For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. Amen”)
The resource concludes with an extensive bibliography and both name and Scripture indexes, reinforcing its academic orientation.
A Small Note of Disagreement with The Lord’s Prayer by Jan Milíč Lochman
One place where I diverge from Lochman is his treatment of “lead us not into temptation” and “deliver us from evil” as separate petitions. In the Greek text, I understand this as a single petition rather than an example of Hebrew parallelism. This difference does not undermine the book’s overall strength, but it is worth noting for readers who engage with the text closely. My understanding is limited, compared to Lochman’s, and I am not meaning to try and challenge.
Daily Bread and Human Need
Lochman’s treatment of daily bread is one of the book’s strongest sections. He surveys how the petition has been interpreted across history—eschatological, practical, theological, and symbolic—before arguing that many modern scholars understand epiousios as a matter of measure rather than time:
“Jesus is teaching his disciples to be satisfied, not to want superfluity, not to seek long-term security, not to heap up goods, but to ask only for what is necessary and sufficient for the day” (Lochman 1990, 91).
From this reading, Lochman moves naturally into human need and social responsibility, framing the petition around what he calls “Hungry Humanity, Bread and Justice, and God and Bread” (Lochman 1990, 92). The prayer is not spiritualized away from material realities; it confronts them directly.
Forgiveness, Debt, and Grace
Lochman’s work on forgiveness is equally compelling. He argues that Matthew’s use of debts is likely more historically accurate than Luke’s use of sins, grounding forgiveness in economic and relational realities:
“The Greek word for ‘forgive’ (aphienai)…means ‘to remit,’ ‘to release’ from legal and financial obligations and duties, including debts” (Lochman 1990, 116).
Importantly, Lochman avoids turning forgiveness into a transactional condition:
“By being ready to forgive and actually forgiving, we do not posit or set up a condition to which divine forgiveness is linked” (Lochman 1990, 121).
Forgiveness, then, flows from grace rather than being earned.
Assessment and Recommendation
This is an intense academic and theological study of the Lord’s Prayer. Lochman unpacks layers that few others address at this depth, drawing from Luther, Bonhoeffer, patristic sources, and even Greek mythology where appropriate.
That depth, however, comes with a cost. While the book is not inaccessible, many everyday lay leaders may struggle with its academic style and dense referencing. Lochman writes clearly as a scholar of a different era.
Still, for readers seeking a serious, historically rooted, and theologically rich engagement with the Lord’s Prayer, this work should not be ignored. It remains a deep dive into a prayer that is both strange and revolutionary—and one that the Church continues to pray together.
