This is one of half a dozen books I used as reference for the study of Psalms I wrote for our Ladies' Bible Class. Every scholar seems to have his own labels for the different varieties of psalms, but they all pretty much agree on what they are and how they are organized. It's the details that matter. Professor Longman makes the Psalms accessible for the average Christian with both his terminology and his explanations.
Although this small book (149 pages) may not be as complete (or complex) as something like Bullock's Encountering the Book of Psalms, or certainly not as much so as the two volume work on Psalms that Zorn has written, it will make your reading of the psalms mean more than it ever has before. In Part 1, besides explaining the genres, the author also gives us a brief history of their development and use in Old Testament times, then carefully explains how we as Christians can sing or pray the same psalms they did. Part 2 gives us an easily understood explanation of the characteristics of Hebrew poetry, an explanation that makes the psalms themselves easier to understand, adding to the benefits we gain from reading them. Part 3 includes his analysis of three different kinds of psalms which not only make those particular psalms come alive, but also helps us in our own analysis as we continue to read through that beautiful book of the Bible.
How to Read the Psalms is worth the short amount of time it will take you to read it. I have read it twice now and gained even more the second time through. It is published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois.
Dene Ward
Although this small book (149 pages) may not be as complete (or complex) as something like Bullock's Encountering the Book of Psalms, or certainly not as much so as the two volume work on Psalms that Zorn has written, it will make your reading of the psalms mean more than it ever has before. In Part 1, besides explaining the genres, the author also gives us a brief history of their development and use in Old Testament times, then carefully explains how we as Christians can sing or pray the same psalms they did. Part 2 gives us an easily understood explanation of the characteristics of Hebrew poetry, an explanation that makes the psalms themselves easier to understand, adding to the benefits we gain from reading them. Part 3 includes his analysis of three different kinds of psalms which not only make those particular psalms come alive, but also helps us in our own analysis as we continue to read through that beautiful book of the Bible.
How to Read the Psalms is worth the short amount of time it will take you to read it. I have read it twice now and gained even more the second time through. It is published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois.
Dene Ward
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