Ama Namin

Just when we think we have understood the prayer that Jesus taught us, along comes a book that unveils the wealth of wisdom that makes the “Our Father” a perennial path to holistic spirituality. The authors and editors of this book have wisely chosen to work on the 1593 Tagalog version of the Lord’s Prayer. Combining intimate exegesis, prophetic hermeneutics, and even linguistics and statistics, they surprise us with new insights, not just on such staple concepts as kapwa and loob but also kanin, uwi, tukso, and walang bahala. The book Ama Namin: The Lord’s Prayer in Philippine Life and Spirituality is rightly dedicated to the “evangelical stalwarts and advocates of holistic mission,” John R. W. Stott, Isabelo Magalit, and Melba Padilla Maggay. It also pays tribute to the early missionaries who, despite the odds, submitted their loob so that “Mauwi sa Amin ang Pagkahar. Mo.”

Albert E. Alejo SJ
Lecturer,
Pontificia Università Gregoriana, Italy

This book represents an authoritative and delightfully contextual study of the Lord’s Prayer. Firmly based on its Jewish and Old Testament foundations, the prayer opens up onto the new world that Christ came to establish. And praying it with intention and regularity, when informed by this book, will put onesquarely in the center of the movement toward that new creation.

William Dyrness, PhD
Senior Professor of Theology and Culture,
Fuller Theological Seminary, California, USA
Adjunct Professor,
Asian Theological Seminary, Philippines

Ama Namin exemplifies the enormous value of careful biblical reflection done as an act of contextualization. This collection of essays demonstrates the richness of this approach pastorally, communally, and academically. Especially as a non-Filipino reader, my grasp of the Lord’s Prayer was greatly enriched and it helped me understand more of how to contextualize my own reading and understanding of Scripture.

Mark Labberton, PhD
President,
Fuller Theological Seminary, California, USA

Meaning and appreciation are sometimes lost when we become too familiar with something, even with prayer. Ama Namin gives us a fresh look at a prayer that most of us grew up memorizing and reciting. This is the fruit of collaborative work among seasoned Bible scholars and theologians who have brought to the fore the beauty and richness of a well known and well loved prayer. The book is scholarly yet it is also a good companion for personal reflection and group study. This is a must-read for those who desire to deepen their prayer lives and relationship with God. Through its pages, one is reminded that God is constantly inviting us to be in communion with him, to experience him as our powerful yet loving, caring, and faithful Father in heaven.

Maloi Malibiran-Salumbides
Founder and Prayer Leader,
Lord Heal Our Land Prayer Ministry

Ama Namin brings together some of the brightest Filipino minds in Christian theology to reflect on the prayer first spoken by Christ that has since been echoed by his followers throughout generations. The result is an obra that is not only biblically and theologically robust, but also socioculturally significant. This important work is sure to resonate with Filipino believers who are seeking to faithfully follow and model Christ here and now. Ama Namin, more than being a collection of excellent reflections, is in itself a prayer in our unique Filipino voice: a firm and resolute confession of who our God the Father is and a hopeful vision of who we are as his people.

Marie Joy Pring, PhD
Adjunct Faculty,
Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary, Philippines
William Carey International University, California, USA

I grew up reciting the Lord’s Prayer or “Ama Namin” as an altar boy in our hometown. It was a religious incantation whose meaning was understandable but not what my heart wanted to say to God. In high school, when I became part of an evangelical church, I was more attracted to free-flowing conversation with God as a prayer punctuated by “In Jesus’s name, Amen!” I thought I could say what my heart really wanted to tell God. Because of that, I began to ask, “What does God want of me?” The Lord’s Prayer became a guide to understand what God wants of me and what I can tell God about my life. This book has added so much wisdom to what I already understood. I recommend it to pastors of the Philippine evangelical churches to teach the disciples of Jesus Christ what God wants his disciples to be praying to become part of the reality of our daily lives here on earth.

Bishop Cesar Vicente P. Punzalan III, PhD
Chairman of the Board,
Asian Theological Seminary, Philippines

1. Foreword: Bilang Pasakalye . . . (A Segue)
2. Acknowledgments
3. Abbreviations
4. Introduction
5. Part One: Beginning with God: The “Your” Petitions
1. 1 The Character of the God to Whom Jesus Prayed
2. Edgar Battad Ebojo
3. 2 What Is the Father Like “in Heaven”? The Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 82
4. Federico G. Villanueva
5. 3 Hallowed Be Your Name: Demonstrating God’s Incomparability
6. Athena E. Gorospe
7. 4 The Reign of God in and through the Messiah
8. Rolex M. Cailing
9. 5 Your Will Be Done, on Earth As It Is in Heaven
10. Samson L. Uytanlet
6. Part Two: Where We Need God’s Help the Most: The “Us” Petitions
1. 6 Give Us Today Our Daily Rice
2. Juliet Lee Uytanlet
3. 7 As We Forgive Our Kapwa
4. Jason Richard Tan
5. 8 “Temptation” and “Evil” in the Lord’s Prayer in Relation to Public Engagement
6. Laurence Gatawa
7. 9 Yours Is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: Doxology in the Lord’s Prayer and the Christian Life
8. Timoteo D. Gener
7. About the Contributors
8. Bibliography
9. Index