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Praying the PsalmsEngaging Scripture and the life of the SpiritExpressing what we feel?PRAYING THE PSALMS The author, Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia, USA, writes more as an academic theologian than as a pastor. He addresses primarily the function of language in the use of the Psalms and the Christian use of poetry which, he suggests, is Jewish. Two quotes illustrate the thrust of the book. ‘Praying the Psalms depends upon two things: (1) what we find when we come to the Psalms that is already there; and (2) what we bring to the Psalms out of our own lives.’ ‘The Psalter knows that life is dislocated. No cover-up is necessary. The Psalter is a collection over a long period of time of the eloquent, passionate songs and prayers of people who are at the desperate edge of their lives.’ The last chapter explores psalms that pray for God’s vengeance. Brueggemann argues that we must not pretend that the New Testament provides a higher view of God in contrast to the Old Testament and he reminds us of the New Testament’s important use of the motif of God’s vengeance. He urges us to use these psalms to express our own rage and indignation and by this means find them yielded to the mercy of God. The book suffers from being a collection of various papers the author has given over a period of time. It would probably have been better if he had rewritten the material in a more coherent form for the ordinary rather than the academic reader. Its title suggested that it would help me to pray the psalms but it did not do so — rather it made such an exercise appear all too complicated. Derek Prime,
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