alla rysai hēmas apo tu ponēru (Mat. 6:13b): Reading The Lord's Prayer through Ewe-ghanaian Demono-logical Lens

This article examines the phrase alla rysai hēmas apo tu ponēru in Matthew's rendition of the Lord's Prayer through the Ewe-Ghanaian demonological lens. It employs a combination of the historical-critical and indigenous mother tongue biblical hermeneutics methods to address the ambiguity a...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Eck, Ernest van 1960- (Author) ; Sakitey, D. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: [publisher not identified] [2019]
In: Acta theologica
Year: 2019, Volume: 39, Issue: 2, Pages: 172-186
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Prayer / Demonology / Lord's Prayer / Bible. Matthäusevangelium 6,13b
IxTheo Classification:CB Christian life; spirituality
CD Christianity and Culture
HC New Testament
KBN Sub-Saharan Africa
NBH Angelology; demonology
Further subjects:B Ponerologie
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Description
Summary:This article examines the phrase alla rysai hēmas apo tu ponēru in Matthew's rendition of the Lord's Prayer through the Ewe-Ghanaian demonological lens. It employs a combination of the historical-critical and indigenous mother tongue biblical hermeneutics methods to address the ambiguity associated with the phrase apo tu ponēru in the petition. It also engages the world of the text with the Ewe-Ghanaian demonological world view and defines the place of ponēros (evil/evil one) in Ewe-Ghanaian Christian spirituality. The article discusses the various hermeneutical and theological positions on the text and juxtaposes them with popular Ewe-Ghanaian Christian demonology. The article argues that the aggressiveness with which the Ewe-Ghanaian Christian confronts his/her destiny issues is premised on the primal belief that everyone came to this world with his/her own destiny (gbetsi) or fortune (aklama). However, there are forces that interfere with one's destiny. It is against this backdrop that one must relentlessly wage a spiritual warfare against those forces through not only tumultuous and verbose prayers, but also ritual performances, in order to either protect a good fortune or reverse a bad one. The phrase alla rysai hēmas apo tu ponēru (Mat. 6:13b) is, therefore, a call on "Our Father in the heavens" to reverse any misfortune in one's life, in order to fulfil one's destiny in life.
ISSN:2309-9089
Contains:Enthalten in: Acta theologica
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.18820/23099089/actat.v39i2.10