Spiritual Perspective on Books March 24, 2014 ISSUE

Praying and living the psalms

Kim Shippey

The Case for the Psalms: Why They Are Essential
by N.T. Wright
HarperOne, 2013

What a happy irony that one of the most respected New Testament scholars in academic and religious circles should bear the initials N.T.—N.T. Wright, who teaches at St. Andrews University in Scotland. It’s also interesting that one of the most enriching of his many books in recent years should focus on a prominent part of the Old Testament—The Case for the Psalms: Why They Are Essential.

With his customary friendliness and warmth, Wright draws readers into a conversation during which he encourages them to align their values, theology, and perception of reality with the songs, poems, and prayers that informed the hearts and minds of both Jesus and the Apostle Paul. He points out that the psalms enabled the first generation of Christians to navigate the world of their day, which, he suggests, is not all that different from our own.

Wright never hesitates to look up from his keyboard to say, “As I was writing the previous paragraph, three greenfinches came and sat on the bird feeders outside my window ...” and on he goes with his heartfelt sharing: “This book is not so much an invitation to study the Psalms ... but to pray and live the Psalms.”

Wright appears to be aware of the tendency of many readers to gravitate toward those psalms that prop up their sense of well-being, gratification, and happiness. Yet abridged psalters, though ringing with praise, can be inadequate as a model for the full life of prayer. Wright says that the psalms rank with any poetry in any culture, ancient or modern, from anywhere in the world. He recognizes their depiction of “horrendous misery” along with the “unrestrained jubilation,” but insists that anyone who is open to the beautiful expression of a larger vision of reality—is likely to react to these poems “like someone who hasn’t had a good meal for a week or two."

He devotes a chapter to the way in which the psalms invite us to stand at the intersection of different layers of time, and especially at the threshold of God’s timelessness. He has a lot of fun writing about the way the trees of the forest sing for joy, and how God’s power is revealed to us and we observe the new creation “flooded, saturated, with God’s presence and glory.”

Finally, Wright romps home with an Afterword in which he fondly remembers singing the psalms in church choirs from the age of seven and reciting psalms while cycling up a busy High Street in Oxford and mentally preparing to play an important rugby game against “ferocious” opponents. He says that trying to pick his favorite psalms is like trying to remember all the breakfasts he’s eaten (and enjoyed!).

Even though I suspect many readers will identify with that observation, I doubt that they will resist listing their own favorites, then perhaps even rereading all 150 psalms to see what they might have missed!

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