Abstract / DOI
«Your Will Should Be Stronger»: Jesus’ Prayer in Gethsemane – A Theological Turning Point in the Ancient Church. Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane (Mc 14,32-42 parr) represents a fateful moment in his life. Its interpretation is connected with the understanding of God and man in the respective epoch. Many Church Fathers in the West and East have commented this scene and explicated its importance for anthropology and even for christology and soteriology. The highlight of Gethsemane’s long and rich interpretation history you find in Maximus Confessor (580-662), which pointed out Jesus’ full humanity straight in his «Yes, father» as key word to the salvation of man. Maximus’ interpretation of the Gethsemane prayer gives some important impulses to recent discussions about theological anthropology, especially to the theological understanding of freedom and autonomy.