A Theory of Evil
The ninth in the series on the Jesus Prayer, known as the Lord’s Prayer. We are examining this prayer through three different interpretations of Jesus. Was he a political revolutionary, a great moral teacher but not divine, or the Second Person of the Trinity, the Incarnate God? Here we ask how we can understand today what he meant by “deliver us from evil.”
Evil and Worldviews
Worldviews define our understanding of the world and our place in it. They have a great deal to do with how we think about things that affect us, what should be done to solve problems and how to improve both ourselves and the world we find ourselves in. How we think about evil is one very important part of our worldview. There are many theories of evil ranging from “there is no such thing” to the dominance or near dominance of evil in our world and ourselves. What did Jesus teach about evil? The few words of the Jesus Prayer say a lot.
Starting with the Aramaic
As we have done previously, we begin by a close look at how the Aramaic that Jesus spoke is translated into our popular English versions. We are using the website Jesus Spoke Aramaic as our guide. This gives some help in understanding which of the two versions typically used relating to evil is the correct one.
