The Case for the Psalms: Why They Are Essential
Written by N.T. Wright
Narrated by James Langton
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
One of the world's most trusted Bible scholars, N. T. Wright turns his attention to the central collection of prayers that Jesus and Paul knew best: the book of Psalms. Wright points out that the Psalms have served as the central prayer and hymnbook for the church since its beginning—until now. In The Case for the Psalms, Wright calls us to return to the Psalms as a steady, vital component of healthy Christian living.
Reading, studying, and praying the Psalms is God's means for teaching us what it means to be human: how to express our emotions and yearnings, how to reconcile our anger and our compassion, how to see our story in light of God's sweeping narrative of salvation. Wright provides the tools for understanding and incorporating these crucial verses into our own lives. His conclusion is simple: all Christians need to read, pray, sing, and live the Psalms.
N.T. Wright
N. T. Wright, formerly bishop of Durham in England, is professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. He also taught New Testament studies for twenty years at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities. He has written over thirty books, including Simply Christian, Surprised by Hope, Justification and Evil and the Justice of God. His magisterial work, Jesus and the Victory of God, is widely regarded as one of the most significant contributions to contemporary New Testament studies.
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Reviews for The Case for the Psalms
34 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a short but meaningful book that discusses the importance of the psalms for Christians. The author explains how the psalms add to the richness of spiritual life by showing us how to relate to God, especially when these works of poetry are viewed within context of one another. Too often only portions of psalms are used in personal reading or worship. The author makes a great case for viewing these works collectively as one unit and describing how these pieces were designed to transform and enrich the reader.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Many years ago I was sitting high up on a mountain with a Roman Catholic nun, and she began to quote from the Psalms. She said then that something was missing if I didn't know the Psalms well enough to quote from them when an occasion like that came. Later I was on a tour of the Jewish temple in Geneva, and stopped to admire an attractive book. It turns out that it was a book of the Psalms. Our guide talked about the book for a moment and the Psalms, and told me I was missing something if I didn't pray them in Hebrew.Now N. T. Wright, calls me back to the Psalms, reminding me that I need them in English, in German and in Hebrew. (It's not going to be Hebrew this year. I'm working on Greek.) But the amazing thing is that whatever language or translation I read the Psalms in, they feel like old friends and so familiar, but always fresh. This book is very worth reading, but even more important is reading the Psalms. Wright would agree with that. On the other hand if you are strongly against praying the Psalms regularly, you probably should avoid this book. You might find yourself going against your principles.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thoroughly enjoyable. I too believe the modern church has lost track of the amazing ways the ancient church used the Psalms in corporate worship and life. Wright points out many great ideas behind their use, and the benefits it can bring. I may be making more of this than others, and it may be because I come from a background of years ago being in an "exclusive psalmody" in worship denomination. This book does not promote such an idea, but still shows the importance of the Psalms in general.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5N.T. Wright may be a New Testament scholar, but he makes it a point to read five Psalms a day because he believes the Psalms belong at the center of Christian worship and Christian thought. He makes his point in “The Case for the Psalms” (2013), and anyone who reads it will likely be swayed toward that same opinion.We may assume the Psalms to be a random assortment of Hebrew poetry not unlike an anthology of notable American poetry or British poetry. Having read all 150 of them so many times, Wright thinks differently. He views them as deliberately ordered with common themes running through them.The themes he focuses on in his book are time, space and matter, and he writes about how God connects with mankind through each.About time, for example, Wright says, "This is what poetry and music themselves are there to do: to link the present to the past, to say, 'Remember,' to say, 'Blessed be God,' even when the tide is running strongly in the wrong direction."As for space, Wright traces in the Psalms the Hebrews' evolving understanding of where God dwells, from a holy place, to the Temple, to all mankind, the soul of each human being."Matter matters," the author tells us. The Psalms celebrate not just God but God's whole creation.Wrights quotes at length from many of the Psalms, and in the most personal chapter of his book describes how particular Psalms have spoken to him in significant ways through his life.
1 person found this helpful