This article discusses Thomas Nashe’s longest and perhaps most frequently misread work, the religious pamphlet Christs Teares over Jerusalem. While criticism used to dismiss this text as either an aesthetic failure or consider it a hoax, the present analysis situates Christs Teares in the context of Nashe’s self-projection as an author. In doing so, it links the religious fervour and frequent instances of prayer in the text as a way for Nashe to position himself in relation to his patron and his audience. Drawing on the intermingling secular and religious meanings of prayer in Nashe’s time, the article suggests that prayer is predominantly configured as petition in Christs Teares and as such it provides Nashe with a position of dejection and humility that at the same time is a source of empowerment. In other words, the article proposes that the religious tone of the work should not be seen as an anomaly but rather a strategy that is integral to Nashe’s authorial persona as represented in Christs Teares and elsewhere.