PRAYER: AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

  • D F O’Kennedy University of Stellenbosch
Keywords: Prayer literature, Old Testament, Psalms, Historical Development of Prayer, Literary Forms of Prayer

Abstract

There are a few misconceptions concerning the understanding of prayer in the Old Testament, namely 1) prayer literature does not form an integral part of the Old Testament; 2) Old Testament prayer is confined to Psalmic prayers; 3) every single prayer must be treated as an isolated entity; 4) there is a dichotomy between ‘cultic prayers’ and ‘private prayers’ in the Old Testament; 5) Old Testament prayer has no literary and theological function.  This article illustrates that these misconceptions are not a true portrayal of the prayer literature in the Old Testament.
Published
2019-08-13
Section
Articles