of many religions and cultural traditions in the Mediterranean world, cross-
fertilization between Jewish and non-Jewish practices was probably the norm
rather than the exception, although this has been subject to intense debates, as
well (e.g., Hengel, 1988, pp. 191–5; Thompson & Wajdenbaum, 2014; cf.
Collins, 2005, pp. 21–43). The second advice on prayer, the condemnation
of“gentile”practice (the exact meaning ofβατταλογεῖνis not important for
our purposes) indicates an interest in a mode of prayer that would be properly
“Jewish”—an interest that could arise among diaspora Jews, poor Jews, pros-
elytes, or non-Jewish members of the Christ movement.
The Lord’s Prayer gives an example of the expected prayer practice (where
we of course possess only the verbal content without intonation or gestures).
How the text was thought to function as an example is a further question,
which we cannot discuss in detail. Based on our brief discussion of Jewish
prayer practices of the time, it seems that the Lord’s Prayer could give an idea
of the kind of prayers to be selected from the texts available in the cultural
environment (in addition to being a text to be recited). Although some Jewish
prayers from Late Antiquity (in particular, Qaddish and Eighteen Benedic-
tions) provide parallels to the Lord’s Prayer (Davies & Allison, 2004,
pp. 595–7; Luz, 2007, pp. 317–18), they are unlikely to pre-date it and do
not help us to a better understanding of how the Lord’s Prayer used models for
composing a semi-free prayer. Remarkably, the Lord’s Prayer consists of a
series of petitions and lacks a doxology, the absence of which probably felt odd
to the Christ believers who added it later (Didache8.2). By focusing on asking,
the prayer reflects need or distress rather than joy.^3 It does not draw, however,
on prayers of complaint such as known from the Book of Psalms (e.g., Ps. 5–7,
54 – 7, 61–4, etc.; Gunkel & Begrich, 1998, pp. 121–98), which mention specific
hardships. It contains, in contrast, several allusions to wisdom literature (Prov.
27:1, 30.7–9; Sirach 23:1, 4, 28:2, 33:1; cf. Byargeon, 1998), and possibly the
influence of Hellenistic kingship ideology (Bazzana, 2011).
The respective verses of the Sermon of the Mount thus promote (using a
very normative tone) a patterned, disciplined, and solitary prayer practice,
which incorporates wisdom traditions, and consists of straightforward
requests that focus on basic material, psychological, and religious concerns.
Such ritualized practice could provide an efficient way of relieving anxiety
in face of perceived dangers and could be also attractive irrespective of the
perception of actual dangers because it caused a mild activation of the hazard-
precaution system. If one takes the Intifada study as an analogy, it is tempting
to speculate about some acute crisis that could lead to such a development in
Christian prayer practice. The Jewish war would be one of the usual contexts
to be cited; however, some local and completely forgotten pressure could also
(^3) The focus on petitions as well as their general scope could explain its magical use in early
Christian amulets (Nongbri, 2011).
98 Cognitive Science and the New Testament