The Case for the Psalms
Why They Are Essential
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Publisher Description
Widely regarded as the modern C. S. Lewis, N. T. Wright, one of the world’s most trusted and popular Bible scholars and the bestselling author of Simply Christian and Surprised by Hope, presents a manifesto urging Christians to live and pray the Bible’s Psalms in The Case for the Psalms.
Wright seeks to reclaim the power of the Psalms, which were once at the core of prayer life. He argues that, by praying and living the Psalms, we enter into a worldview, a way of communing with God and knowing him more intimately, and receive a map by which we understand the contours and direction of our lives. For this reason, all Christians need to read, pray, sing, and live the Psalms. By providing the historical, literary, and spiritual contexts for reading these hymns from ancient Israel’s songbook, The Case for the Psalms provides the tools for incorporating these divine poems into our sacred practices and into our spirituality itself.
This essential guide from one of today’s leading Bible scholars provides:
The Bible’s Prayer Book: A fresh look at the historical, literary, and spiritual context of ancient Israel’s songbook, revealing its power for today.A Transformed Worldview: How praying the Psalms shapes our understanding of time, space, and matter, providing a map to navigate the contours of our lives.Spiritual Formation: Practical tools for incorporating these divine poems into daily spiritual practices to commune more intimately with God.The Prayer Life of Jesus: An exploration of how the Psalms shaped the prayers and vocation of Jesus himself, offering a model for Christian discipleship.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wright (Simply Christian) preaches on the page. He knows the Bible about as well as he knows his name, and on this go plumbs the Psalms, the biblical book a songwriter such as Bob Dylan might have written had he lived a long, long time ago. The Psalms sing, praise, curse, and offer a view of a relationship to God that is by turns humble and assertive, joyful and mournful. Wright offers an insider's appreciation; it helps to have some familiarity with this remarkable group of prayers, because Wright quotes liberally, as if his interpretation will be obvious as soon as he cites the passage he is exegeting. Wright's deep knowledge is in New Testament, not Old, yet few readers will want to quarrel; the book is not addressed to scholars, although its origin is a gathering of pastors and theologians. Rather, the author's reflections are pastoral, urging the reader to understand and then pray and sing the Psalms. Reading is easier, and more rewarding, if a Bible is nearby to provide context and references.
