Product Description

Neil Douglas-Klotz has been praised by sources ranging from The Catholic Times to Creation Spirituality magazine as one of today's most visionary new voices in the revival of Christianity's mystical roots. With Original Prayer, this gifted author and translator offers a welcome new work: a meditative journey into one of the most enduring and beloved cornerstones of the Christian faith - the Lord's Prayer. Original Prayer begins by exploring the many rich layers of meaning enfolded within New Testament scriptures written in Aramaic, the language that Jesus and his disciples actually spoke. Through specific insights revealed within the Aramaic Lord's Prayer, listeners learn eight unique "body prayers," an ancient Middle Eastern form of meditation that engages the entire body in the contemplation of scripture. This is the same devotional practice used by the early Christians to delve into the Gospels - not as a scholarly exercise, but as a living, breathing experience of God. With Prayers of the Cosmos (more than 100,000 copies in print), Neil Douglas-Klotz delighted readers with his fresh and often stunning translations of New Testament scripture. Now, with Original Prayer, they have within their reach a way to experience directly - through the body - the vital wellspring of wisdom "encoded" within the original words of the Lord's Prayer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #374182 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-30
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Audio CD

From AudioFile
Aramaic is a sparse language in which words have alternative meanings that are often quite different from the King James translations of Jesus's teachings people use today. The author is a religious scholar who studies Aramaic to learn how people two thousand years ago thought about God, love, humanity, and spiritual community. In Aramaic, the Lord's Prayer is fertile ground for the author's interpretation of what Jesus said about personal development, emotional integrity, and the meaning of life. His historical explanations, which are poetic and illuminating, gently challenge the notion of our being separated from God and offer a more communal remedy to our alienation and relentless ambitious-ness. An outstanding historical and spiritual lesson. T.W. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About the Author
Neil Douglas-Klotz is an independent scholar of religious studies, spirituality, and psychology. He holds a Ph.D. in religious studies and psychology from the Union Institute and taught these subjects for ten years at Holy Names College in California. Neil Douglas-Klotz is the author of Prayers of the Cosmos, Desert Wisdom, and The Hidden Gospel.

Customer Reviews

Lord's Prayer with clarity and power
Aramaic scholar Neal Douglas-Klotz has brought his lecture and written work to the public in a highly usable, audio form. Here one hears the sound of the original words of Jesus, learns the meaning when translated from that source and appreciates the ancient power of chant by experiencing it. Outstanding resource and powerful spiritual tool.

Pioneering work to be accepted with caution
If you read all of the reviews on this audio series you will notice a general positive trend, but at least on review which suggests that the author may have taken liberty with the pronounciations and interpretations. I think all these reviews may be true. The bible has existed in two forms - the mostly Greek and Latin version which has been protected by the Roman Catholic church and an Aramaic version which is possibly older and closer to the words that Jesus actually spoke. There are very few scholars who have tackled the latter version. Infact there are only two scholars who have achived significant recognition in this area: Dr. Rocco Errico and Dr. Klotz. As a result I am not surprised to see some disagreement about whose views are more accurate. I do know that Dr. Errico's work has undergone some scrutiny for basically being sloppy and Dr. Klotz's work has been scrutinized as being an overly liberal interpretation. What I like about this series by Dr. Klotz is that he is very open about where his interpretation comes from and only offers his concepts as one version of the truth. I think such comments come from a very insightful mind. I think over the next 20-50 years of scholarship in the Aramaic bible we will better understand where the truth is, but in the meantime this is a very inspiring series that has nothing less than changed my life for the better.

Wrong pronounciation - fantasy interpretation
Sorry to say, but this work is NOT one of the best. First of all, the interpretations the author gives - may they be spiritually uplifting - are a sufi interpretation and addition. Sufism is the mystical school if the Islam.
If you want to get down to the core of Jesus and his prayer you must look at him entirely through Near Eastern eyes at the time of Jesus.
The pronounciation: a complete enigma! No Aramaic scholar whould know where Mr Klotz got the pronounciation from which he displays here. Abwoon dbaschmaya. The "b" letter as written in both cases must collaps in this grammatical case when pronounced: awoon dwashmeya. And that is only 1 shore example.
The way Mr Klotz speaks the lord's prayer, Jesus has definitely NOT spoken it. There exists a CD with the reliable pronounciation of the Lord's Prayer but I am afraid it is only available ... word by word and phrase by phrase spoken in Aramaic and explained in English by Dr. Rocco Errico (more about him further below), the world's foremost authority in Aramaic studies in relation to Jesus. The title of that CD is "Acht Einstimmungen auf Gott" (Eight Attunements to God).

If you ask me, the only reliable source for Aramaic knowledge is Dr. Rocco Errico, whose many books you can find here ... By the way, Dr. Errico was one of Douglas-Klotz's teachers and this makes Mr. Klotz's pronounciation more than incomprehensible because he learnt it actually from the number one authority in the world.

In closing: if you want a worthwile interpretation of the Lord's Prayer based on the ancient Near Eastern culture and language, trust the book "Setting a Trap for God" by Dr. Rocco Errico. Everything else is coloured by Mr. Klotz's own preferences. But it has nothing to do with Jesus and his times. Jesus was down to earth and a revolutionist, not a sufi mystic.