The Neuroscience of the Lord's Prayer

#1 New York Times bestselling author, psychiatrist, and brain-imaging pioneer Dr. Daniel Amen reveals how Jesus’ most famous prayer can help rewire your brain for greater hope, healing, and peace. For two thousand years, countless millions of Christians around the world have prayed the words Jesus taught His disciples: “Our Father, which art in heaven…” But what if the most famous prayer in history is a powerful healing sequence—a form of spiritual technology that speaks directly to the deepest questions of the human mind? In The Neuroscience of the Lord’s Prayer, Dr. Daniel Amen draws on more than four decades of clinical practice and insights from hundreds of thousands of brain scans to reveal the surprising science within this ancient prayer. Moving phrase by phrase through the Lord’s Prayer, Amen shows how it answers nine questions every human brain asks—questions about identity, attention, hope, purpose, forgiveness, temptation, and evil—and how praying Jesus’s words can move a troubled mind toward peace. He shows how intentionally praying these words with attention, emotion, trust, and repetition can help calm fear, release resentment, strengthen relationships, resist temptation, and train the brain toward greater peace. Complete with a forty-day journey for putting these insights into practice, Amen blends biblical wisdom, compelling neuroscience, personal stories, and practical exercises to transform a prayer millions know by heart into something they can more fully live.