William M. WRIGHT IV. The Lord’s Prayer: Matthew 6 and Luke 11 For the Life of the Church. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2023. pp. 190 + xv. $24.99 hc. ISBN 978-1540963063. Reviewed by Neil FULTON, University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law, Vermillion, SD 57069.

Perhaps no words are more familiar to Christians than the words of the Lord's Prayer. From their youth, Catholics offer the words of the Lord’s Prayer at every mass, in daily personal prayer, at public prayer, and a multitude of settings. It is certainly one of the first, if not the first, prayer learned by the faithful and likely one of a very few must retained and relied upon throughout life. The words of the Lord’s Prayer are, in fact, so familiar that they can risk becoming somewhat washed out in the minds of otherwise faithful Catholics. Words merely intoned but not truly considered. Spiritual “background noise” perhaps. Losing that impact is a tragedy given the centrality of the Lord’s Prayer to the faith of all Catholic Christians.

William Wright's recent book exploring the Lord's Prayer offers an antidote to this risk. In his brief but dense (in a good way) work, Wright wonderfully opens up the familiar words of the Lord's Prayer for people of faith in powerful ways. It is a work well worth reading and worth revisiting to gain deeper insights.
Wright first puts the Lord’s Prayer into its larger biblical, theological, and historical context. The reader begins with a better understanding of where the Lord’s Prayer “fits.” Wright then breaks both the prayer and the book into chapters based on the constituent petitions of the prayer: Our Father, Sanctify Your Name, Kingdom and Will, Our Daily Bread, Forgive Us as We Forgive, Deliver Us. The first three he identifies as “you” petitions directed toward the Father; the latter three he identifies as “we” petitions as they ask something for the petitioner. This division reinforces the point Wright illustrates throughout the book that the Lord’s Prayer constitutes a genuine dialogue between the Father and the petitioner, each having multiple aspects of their relationship.

The exposition of the book operates on two tracks. First, it undertakes a deep exegesis of the roots of the Lord's prayer in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Wright carefully traces the presentation of Lord's prayer in both gospels, notes key divergence between them, and carefully connects them with other portions of the Bible and key theological texts. This portion of the book is heavily and helpfully annotated. It provides a useful resource for anyone looking for a scholarly source for the role and placement of the Lord’s Prayer within the Gospels.

A second track is the book's exploration of what the Lord's Prayer is and what it does for the faithful. This aspect of the book explores the real meaning and operation of the Lord's Prayer. In each chapter, Wright explores how that portion of the Lord’s Prayer allows the faithful to speak to the Father and the Father to speak to the faithful. Practical consideration is given to how those who pray the Lord’s Prayer can bring the petitions to life in their actions and how each can anchor their relationship with God. Each chapter effectively demonstrates how these petitions can be lived by the faithful, what they offer to and demand from the faithful, and how they structure the relationship of each individual to God.

While very readable, the most enduring value of the book may be that each chapter provides an excellent basis for further prayer or meditation. For example, that chapter that explores how the prayer is addressed to God the Father would provide excellent material for prayerful contemplation by fathers, those who have relationships with an earthly father, a men’s Bible study, or any reader interested in a deeper contemplation of what it means to live in relation to God as our Father. Spiritual insights like this abound and will grow with deeper study. As much as the book deserves to be read, it more deserves to be reread with greater contemplation than an initial reading would typically allow.

It is a challenge to produce a work that is both academic in its presentation of deep exegesis and inspiring in its facilitation of prayer and spiritual formation. Wright has done exactly that, however. He has produced a work that is useful to scholars and accessible to the lay faithful. The Lord’s Prayer would make a worthy and useful addition to the bookshelf of any thoughtful Catholic.