"We delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation." The Psalms were written as songs; we should read them as poetry, in the spirit of lyric, not as sermons or instructions. But they are also shrouded in mystery, and in this careful reading from one of our most trusted fellow travelers, C.S. Lewis helps us begin to reveal their meaning in our daily lives and in the world. Reflecting again and anew on these beloved passages, we can find ...
Read More
"We delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation." The Psalms were written as songs; we should read them as poetry, in the spirit of lyric, not as sermons or instructions. But they are also shrouded in mystery, and in this careful reading from one of our most trusted fellow travelers, C.S. Lewis helps us begin to reveal their meaning in our daily lives and in the world. Reflecting again and anew on these beloved passages, we can find both joy and difficulty, but also, always, real enlightenment and moments of transcendent grace. "This book may not tell the reader all he would like to know about the Psalms, but it will tell him a good deal he will not like to know about himself." --Times Literary Supplement "[Lewis] . . . displays in this volume the same keen insight and gifted tongue that have made him one of the most highly respected essayists using the English language." --Chicago Sunday Tribune "Full of illuminating observations." --New York Times
Read Less
Add this copy of Reflections on the Psalms (Harvest Book) to cart. $3.81, good condition, Sold by Solr Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Skokie, IL, UNITED STATES, published 1964 by Mariner Books.
Add this copy of Reflections on the Psalms (Harvest Book) to cart. $4.54, very good condition, Sold by Half Price Books Inc rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1964 by Mariner Books.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Reflections on the Psalms to cart. $5.75, very good condition, Sold by Montana Book Company rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Fond du Lac, WI, UNITED STATES, published 1964 by Mariner Books.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. pp. 151. 151 pp. Tightly bound. Spine not compromised. Text is free of markings. No ownership markings. Light fading to the spine.
Add this copy of Reflections on the Psalms (Harvest Book) to cart. $6.49, good condition, Sold by St. Vinnie's Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Eugene, OR, UNITED STATES, published 1964 by Mariner Books.
Add this copy of Reflections on the Psalms (Harvest Book) to cart. $6.49, fair condition, Sold by St. Vinnie's Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Eugene, OR, UNITED STATES, published 1964 by Mariner Books.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Acceptable. Paperback 100% of proceeds go to charity! Acceptable reading copy with obvious signs of use, wear, and/or cosmetic issues. Item is complete and remains readable despite notable condition issues.
Add this copy of Reflections on the Psalms (Harvest Book) to cart. $6.99, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Emerald rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1964 by Mariner Books.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Reflections on the Psalms (Harvest Book) to cart. $6.99, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Diamond rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1964 by Mariner Books.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Reflections on the Psalms (Harvest Book) to cart. $6.99, very good condition, Sold by HPB Inc. rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1964 by Mariner Books.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Reflections on the Psalms (Harvest Book) to cart. $11.48, good condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1964 by Mariner Books.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good. Good condition. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains.
Add this copy of Reflections on the Psalms (Harvest Books) to cart. $15.00, very good condition, Sold by The Book House - Saint Louis rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from St. Louis, MO, UNITED STATES, published 1964 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
I consider this one of Lewis? lesser works, or minor works, perhaps because it is not on one theme, so it is not as cohesive as other books. Lewis admits, at the beginning, ?I write for the unlearned about things on which I am unlearned myself.? He writes as a schoolboy discussing the topic with classmates, not as a teacher who knows so much he doesn?t understand the problem. In other words, it is not so much theology as reader?s reaction.
The problem is how to read the Psalms, how to interpret some of the statements. Lewis starts with the difficult themes, such as expression of hate. For instance, the cursing of Psalm 109, verses 7-11:
When he shall be judge, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labor.
Lewis points out, for the contemporary Christian, this is not a justification for hatred. Rather we should recognize the sentiment to repent of, and the harm done ? the hatred caused ? by injustice. To quote Lewis, ?Take from a man his freedom or his goods and you may have taken his innocence, almost his humanity, as well.?
The next chapter, Death, emphasizes a recurring lesson: beware of reading the Psalms from the contemporary Christian perspective, take into account the context in which they were written. This relates to the chapter on death as Christians think of the eternal life that awaits. In the Psalms there is no eternal life after death.
There are two chapters on Second Meanings, which justify contemporary readings and the Christian perspective. Reading some of the verses as prophetic of Christ is not wrong. For instance, Psalm 45 anticipates the Nativity. But the Psalmist may not have known it was prophecy at the time of writing it. For Lewis it is not surprising that the words would take on more meaning with time as 1) he believes God guided the writers of the scriptures, and 2) he believes in the mythopoeic, a term he uses in other essays to describe the truths expressed in myths, including pagan and other religions. Christ not only fulfills Old Testament scripture, but the pagan by ?transcending and abrogating it.?
In the chapter, Scripture, Lewis writes a passage important to reading all of his works:
?I have been suspected of being what is called a Fundamentalist. That is because I never regard any narrative as unhistorical simply on the ground that it includes the miraculous. Some people find the miraculous so hard to believe that they cannot imagine any reason for my acceptance of it other than a prior belief that every sentence of the Old Testament has historical or scientific truth. But this I do not hold, any more than St. Jerome did when he said that Moses described Creation ?after the manner of a popular poet? (as we should say, mythically) or than Calvin did when he doubted whether the story of Job were history or fiction. The real reason why I can accept as historical a story in which a miracle occurs is that I have never found any philosophical grounds for the universal negative proposition that miracles do not happen.?
Boyd
Jul 17, 2009
Helpful
Written in the Lewis style thought provoking and informative insight into the psalms. Get a deeper meaning without having to study Hebrew.
