John the Baptist and the Origin of the Lord’s Prayer

Abstract

This paper examines the cogency of the arguments made by Joan Taylor, Karlheinz Müller, Ulrich Mell, Bernhard Lang, Clare Rothschild, and J.K. Elliot in support of the claim that the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6:9–13//Lk. 11:1–4) might not have originated with Jesus but with John the Baptist. It will show that none of them stand up to critical scrutiny and that anyone who tries to make the case that the Lord’s Prayer does go back to John will have to offer arguments other than the ones these scholars have advanced in defense of this contention to do so.