ABSTRACT
These selected prayers span the period from the late first century to the mid-third century. It is thus not surprising that certain features of the New Testament prayers and hymns appear in these early prayers. For example, there is the sustained reference to Jesus Christ (especially in Didache and Ignatius), and the use of doxologies (in Didache, 1 Clement, and the later prayers in Martyrdom of Polycarp, Acts of Peter and the Prayer of the Apostle Paul). However, some of these post New Testament prayers are in fact earlier than the latest of the New Testament documents. The prayers exhibit very different styles, functions, language and theology and thereby testify to the rich diversity in early Christian experience and in the language of prayer in the post New Testament period.
