Imprecatory Prayer in Modern Christian Churches, A Theological Reflection on Implication for the Present and Future

ISSUE: Vol.5  No.1 February 2019 Article 11  pp.128 – 135
AUTHOR: Edward Agboada
DOI : 10.32051/02211911

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ABSTRACT

There are classes of so-called “imprecatory” (cursing) prayers in the Bible; it does not seem to agree with the totality of Bible message. Getting specific Moses cursed Pharaoh (Ex. 9:16). Samuel cursed Saul (1 Sam. 13:13-14; 15:28). Elijah and Micaiah cursed Ahab (1 Kin. 21:17-24; 22:19-23). Amos cursed Israel (Amos 9:9-10). Jesus cursed the Pharisees (Mt. 23). Paul cursed Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Tim. 1:20; 2 Tim. 4:14). The engendering question has been whether there should be such prayers. What should be their place in worship? The focus of this article is to discuss the use of these imprecatory prayers in modern Christian church services and decipher implications for the present and future.

Keywords: Prayer, Imprecatory, Cursing, Worship, Christian, Church, Modern

EDWARD AGBOADA is an Ordained Minister of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. He holds a variety of academic and professional certificates including CIM, Dip. Th., BDiv. (TTS) and MPhil (KNUST), MEd. Educational Studies, currently a research student at the OCMS. He is currently a Senior Lecturer at the Ramseyer Theological Seminary, (Abetifi-Ghana) where he teaches courses in World Religions, Islamic Studies, Christian-Muslim, Interfaith dialogue, Cross-Cultural Missions, New Religious Movements, Homiletic, and studies in African Traditional Religions.

Agboada, Edward. “Imprecatory Prayer in Modern Christian Churches, a Theological Reflection on Implication for the Present and Future.” E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies 5, no.1 (2019): 128-135. https://doi.org/10.32051/02211911

© 2020 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Publishers. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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