Original Research

ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου: Interpreting the Lord’s Prayer (Mt 6:10a) in the light of Ewe-Ghanaian eschatological vision

Ernest van Eck, Daniel Sakitey
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies | Vol 75, No 3 | a5207 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v75i3.5207 | © 2019 Ernest van Eck, Daniel Sakitey | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 01 August 2018 | Published: 09 July 2019

About the author(s)

Ernest van Eck, Department of New Testament and Related Literature, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
Daniel Sakitey, Department of New Testament and Related Literature, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract

This article examines the phrase ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου in Matthew and Luke’s versions of the Lord’s Prayer in the light of Ewe-Ghanaian eschatological vision. Theoretically, it uses a combination of the historical–critical and indigenous Mother Tongue Biblical Hermeneutical approaches to explore the implication of βασιλεία for the Ewe-Ghanaian Christian. The article discusses the diversity in the interpretations of the text from the early church to the modern and postmodern periods in Christian history and argues that this diversity has occurred as a result of the fluidity of the eschatological visions in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures and that the linear eschatological vision described by the church is inconsistent with the cyclical vision in Ewe cosmology. This dual eschatological vision creates a dilemma in the Ewe-Ghanaian Christian’s understanding of the eternal states. Finally, it is argued that to resolve this eschatological dilemma is to clearly define the place of Ewe eschatological vision in Christian eschatology and interpreting the former as replica of the latter.

Keywords

The Lord’s Prayer; Libation prayer; The kingdom of God; The kingdom of heaven; Christian eschatology; Ewe eschatology; Ewe cosmology

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Crossref Citations

1. The logos Christology in the fourth gospel (Jn 1:1–5, 14): A soteriological response to an Ewe cosmic prayer
Daniel Sakitey, Ernest van Eck
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies  vol: 79  issue: 4  year: 2023  
doi: 10.4102/hts.v79i4.8946