Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

Radio 4,4 mins

What does the Lord's Prayer mean?

Today

Available for over a year

Many can recite the words of the Lord's Prayer from memory - but what do they mean? "One of the suggestions is that it was Jesus' attempt to edit down what is the main prayer of Judaism," said Rabbi Julia Neuberger. She and poet Andrew Motion are two of the five authors of essays inspired by the Christian prayer, which were broadcast on BBC Radio 3 this week. "The phrase that has always puzzled me more than any other is: 'Lead us not into temptation,'" said Mr Motion. "Why on Earth would God lead us into temptation?"

Programme Website
More episodes