Reflections on the Psalms

by C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis moving theological work in which he considers the most poetic portions from Scripture and what they tell us about God, the Bible, and faith.We delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummationIn this wise and enlightening book, C. S. Lewis examines the Psalms. As Lewis divines the meaning behind these timeless poetic verses, he makes clear their significance in our daily lives, and reminds us of their power to illuminate moments of grace.

Genres: Christian, Theology, Nonfiction, Religion, Christianity, Faith, Classics

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Clive Staples Lewis was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954. He was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Mere Christianity, Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and been transformed into three major motion pictures.

Lewis was married to poet Joy Davidman.
W.H. Lewis was his elder brother]

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lewis is often unfairly placed at the helm of Christian apologetics. In fact, if you hear two intelligent people debating the merits of Christianity, it will probably be only a matter of seconds before one of them is refrencing Lewis. Lewis apologetic works (Mere Christianity, Miracles) are attempts to rationalize his beliefs to himself and to any who will listen - they are not the authority on Christian theology and scholarship that they are made out to be (Lewis usually outlines his shortcomings in the introductions to his books).

So those who think of Lewis as just an evangelist or a propagandist avoid his best (and lesser known) work.

'Reflections on the Psalms' finds Lewis in the role he is best suited for, as a critic of great literature.

I kind of dreaded the Psalms until I read this book. The Psalms are revered and read often in Protestant churches but I didn't connect with them as a child, so much context was absent from my understanding and they always seemed like the esoteric ranting of an ancient madman, they certainly did not seem like beautiful lyrics of songs.

This book helped me appreciate the Psalms as great poetry. A great critic can sweep you up in the love of his material and influence you to reread the works in discussion, and this is what Lewis did.

He addresses the angry portions of Psalms and the violent portions and the longing portions and the sorrowful portions and the ecstatic portions - at times he is baffled by a verse and delighted by another. He writes like a fan who wants you to enjoy the Psalms as much as he does, and he does not write like a Biblical scholar, since he is not one.

I think this is one of Lewis' greatest achievments.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of my favorite things about this wonderful little book by my favorite author:

1. Right away, he takes on the difficult, hard-to-stomach psalms, the ones about such things as dashing the Babylonian babies against the stones. Hard stuff. I'm sure I would have avoided it.

2. This quote:
"But of course these conjectures as to why God does what He does are probably of no more value than my dog's ideas of what I am up to when I sit and read."

3. And this quote:
"What we see when we think we are looking into the depths of Scripture may sometimes be only the reflection of our own silly faces."

4. Lewis' discussion of Melchizedek, who I think is the most mysterious figure in the Bible. If you're not familiar with Melchizedek, I urge you to read everything about him in the Bible. It won't take long. He's only mentioned in three places -- Genesis 14, Psalm 110 and Hebrews 7. If your curiosity is piqued, find a copy of "Reflections on the Psalms" and read Chapter 12, "Second Meanings in the Psalms." I think it will be time well-spent.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glorious, but awful in parts. Finished it again in 2016, and it is still the same. Lewis has an uncanny ability to edify me and appall me simultaneously.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

C.S. Lewis begins this work by comparing it to two school boys studying together because they understand the same sort of questions that have long since ceased to puzzle--and in fact, become incomprehensible to--their schoolmaster.
The analogy works beautifully for this book.
I particularly enjoyed his analysis of how the Christian should approach portions of the Psalms where the psalmist proclaims his innocence and demands retribution. It seems to counter the very tenants of Christianity in some ways. And yet it is a part of the Bible and the very words echo something recognizable inside us.
I think some Christians understandably tend to look askance on this volume because Lewis does approach questions of the purpose of Scripture and the beginning of the world with language we often attribute to looser, more liberal theologians. I do not intend to offer any deeper apologetic to his analysis. But whether I agree with his solutions or not, I appreciate that Lewis--a school boy like myself--is asking the same questions, and in answering them as he understands, he forces me to confront my own presuppositions and understanding.

[J. Wootton · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of Lewis' lesser-read works, this little volume deserves more attention. It could almost be used as a devotional, though aimed at correcting assumptions, provoking attentiveness, and addressing discomfort, rather than at inspiration or emotional uplift or guided meditation (or whatever it is that most devotionals are trying to do).

It also sets forth some of Lewis' ideas on understanding the Bible, which are helpfully and clearly stated even if the interpretive framework is one with which you disagree. The Psalms are complex, and guidance is helpful: doubly so when the guide is willing to "own his bias" and does not take for granted that the reader shares his perspective, as so many religious writers do. I read this shortly after Augustine's On Christian Doctrine and found both hermeneutically insightful.

Looking forward to rereading Reflections; I finished it in January 2020 and was immediately plunged, along with everyone else, into a world of everlasting gobstopping distraction. It didn't have much chance to sink in.

[Cindy Rollins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite Lewis book. I am on a quest to read everything he wrote and this has been on my shelf for many years. My son read it years ago as a young teen and did not like it at all. Now I understand why. It still has all the lovely Lewis conversations but some of his reasoning on the Psalms seem to take away the mystery, if that were possible. The Psalms are my favorite book of the Bible and though Lewis is my favorite author his thoughts here did not make me love the Psalms more or less.

[David Sarkies · Rating 5 out of 5]

An English Professor's Thoughts on the Psalms
20 February 2014

I would have to say that the thing that I appreciated the most about this book was that Lewis opened it by saying that he was not writing this book as a theologian, since by his own admission he is not a theologian, but rather that he is writing this book as a normal person, and even in saying that he is suggesting that he is not the colossus of English literature that he actually is. The second point is that in writing he actually writes in a very simple and easy to understand way indicating that he is in fact a master of the English language, but then those of us who are familiar with his children's books already understand that.

This book is basically a collection of notes exploring a number of themes relating to the Psalms, which are basically a collection of one hundred and fifty Hebrew songs that located in the Bible. Lewis, as I indicated, and as he said, is not exploring them as a theologian, but rather as a Christian who happens to be a university lecturer and a professor of the English language. This is what I really appreciate about Lewis' Christian writings because he is not restrained in the way that theologians tend to be restrained (and also due to the fact that he is a marvellous writer).

Reflections on the Psalms is a case in point. While a number of the ideas that he explores are theological (which is something you simply cannot escape from when you are writing a book about a section of the Bible), he goes outside of the general area in which most theologians restrain themselves, and that is pretty much the Bible, and writings of theologians who have written on the Bible (I would have said written before them, but if you are writing a book and citing a source, it is pretty clear that the source you are citing was written before you had written your work – I have never heard of a scholar citing a source that was written after he or she was writing).

After reading this book I have come to understand why there is actually an underlying hatred of Lewis among some sections of the fundamentalist Christian circle (and I have read some very scathing attacks against him, almost as scathing as the attacks that the Pharisees levelled against Christ). First of all he admits to believing in purgatory, but as one Christian that I know said, the only objection that he had against Catholicism is their worship of Mary and the saints. Everything else he believes is compatible with the Evangelical church (with which I agree). Another thing that struck me was how Lewis considers a number of the pagan writers to be what some people call pre-Christian Christians, and among these writers he includes Plato, Socrates, and Virgil.

What is interesting is how Lewis does not necessarily see anything wrong with some of the pagan beliefs, but rather he considers that the beliefs are distorted versions of the gospel, which have been distorted due to humanity's innate rejection of God. For instance he points to some of the instances of the death a resurrection of a Pagan hero (Adonis) though I tend to have a much longer list than he does. He also points to the reign of Ankhenaten in Egypt, which is suggestive of a significant, tectonic shift in the theological views of the Pharoah, one that his successors went to extreme lengths to scrub him, and his ideas, from the face of the Earth. I won't go any further into this as I have, and will continue, to discuss my views on this elsewhere.

The final thing that I wish to discuss is the idea of cursing and judgement in the Psalms. Now Lewis is quite right when he considers that the Jewish mind saw themselves as an aggrieved victim wanting justice from a civil court while the Christian mind sees themselves as the guilty perpetrator sitting in the dock being condemned for their crimes. In some way this is the case, but from what I have seen of many Christians today the attitude is shifting back towards that of the aggrieved plaintiff, especially with the persecution complex that is coming out of the church. However, as I have said elsewhere, and will say again, the danger in taking on board the persecution complex is that one may actually forget that one is actually the guilty party sitting in the dock being tried for one's crimes.

Yet I can understand that frustrations of the aggrieved plaintiff, yet in our democratic society we actually have freedom to make complaints, and to take people to court. If we are injured in a supermarket due to the supermarket's negligence, we can take them to court, and despite the rumours that they run every case to trial, lawyers tend to be much more circumspect, and would prefer to settle out of court because it ends up to being cheaper in the long run. Also, working in a litigious environment one also comes to understand how people seem themselves as being the one who is wronged, and are fighting for compensation (and one even sees those who claim to be wronged when in reality they are the perpetrator, yet are too blind to actually see it).

I can appreciate the frustration of those who seek justice yet wonder whether justice will ever be done. All I have to do is to point to the near collapse of the world economy in 2008 and the fact that out of this only one person saw the other side of prison cell, and that was Bernard Mardolf. Not only were they not punished for their actions, but they were rewarded with over a trillon dollars of tax payer money, money that the US government did not have, and money that has resulted in the government being so deep in debt that they are never going to be able to pay it back (and in the end the people who suffer are not the wealthy whose bank accounts have been protected, but the average person who is caught up in a web of lies because the education system acts to keep them caught up in that self delusion). It is also the injustice of watching one politcal party heap scorn and ridicule on their opposition, and the opposition doing little to nothing to either defend themselves, or to even move around and counter attack their opponents and exposes their lies and propaganda. That is what the psalmists are crying out for when they are crying out for justice.

[Julie Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

5% Done UPDATE
I'm 5% done with Reflections on the Psalms: I never ever stopped to think before about the difference between judges in Old Testament times versus judges in our very modern times. We expect impartiality, no graft, and so forth. Our system is so different from the OT Jewish system that it is no wonder we need mental adjustment before comprehending why their view of God's judgment is so much more joyous than our own. Completely different POV. Fascinating.

25% Done UPDATE
I found myself looking at various psalms this morning with a completely new appreciation. For one thing I was really enjoying seeing the two-line emphasis on most points. I have known about this special sort of poetry but considering psalms with Lewis made me just appreciate how the poets wrote these to give special emphasis and definition to what they were saying.

More importantly, possibly, I found myself thinking of them not as "The Psalms" but as songs written by individual people. People like me who probably found words inadequate, as one does when trying to express the ineffable or when trying to put one's own (effable) feelings into speech. And that made them so much more approachable than when I've been told, as I have so often, that these are a good way to pray. They probably are a good way to pray, but one couldn't have found a more off-putting way to make me think of them as it was often very difficult to enter into the psalmists' particular feelings of the moment.

30% Done UPDATE
Listening to Lewis's thoughts on expressing the sheer joy of the Lord were directly responsible for one of the most joyful early morning walks I've had in some time. Phrases from the joyful psalms (hills clapping their hands, brooks jumping for joy ... I've probably gotten it wrong but that's what I recall) rang through my head as I walked, watched flocks flying, heard mockingbird mating songs, and saw the radiance of the dawn. The joy of the Lord in His creation sings aloud ...

75% Done UPDATE
I am not sure why Mere Christianity is so often mentioned and Reflections on the Psalms is a book I had to discover on my own. Discussing his own problems about the Psalms ... Lewis clears up a lot of unarticulated problems I myself have often had with relating to God and the faithful. Chapter 8 about praising God shot a bolt of lightning into what the psalmists actually meant. Brilliant.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lewis the higher critic? Dare I say the heretic?? I kept hoping I would find one chapter in this book to embrace, but the entire volume turned out to be reflections of a C. S. Lewis I had not anticipated.

To his credit, Lewis introduces the book by stating that he is no scholar, no Hebraist, (he also says no higher critic, but that I take as a technicality since he certainly employs higher-critical reasoning throughout), but rather one unlearned writing for the unlearned. Of course the fact is that C. S. Lewis is about the most NOT unlearned author of the 20th century, so I expected this to be a humble overstatement considering Hebrew poetry is not his primary area of study. I suppose I should have taken the statement more literally.

The main flaw in Lewis's approach is that he views Old Testament Judaism and New Testament Christianity as two completely separate, radically different religions. At times he almost speaks as though they have different deities. From a Jewish scholar I would expect as much, but not from a Christian one. I would even expect this from a higher critic, but I didn't expect Lewis to BE a higher critic, you see. How can he accept New Testament miracles, including the resurrection, but deny that the Psalms were written with any kind of real prophetic purpose? It irks me how he assumes the ancient Jews were several rungs lower on the intellectual ladder--and he does assume this, for he writes as though they were shortsighted in their writing, seeing only an immediate purpose, and cruelly brutal and selfish in their ideas. Divine inspiration for the Psalms is reduced to the notion that maybe we as Christians see things in them that were never really intended but still have value for us personally.

If you want a Christological view of the Psalms, try Luther. Lewis gets so entangled in trying to solve difficulties that he mostly misses a genuine Christian reading of the Psalms. Here is proof positive that no beloved Christian author's entire canon should be accepted without study of its individual parts.

[David Bradley]

(I guess I've already reviewed this book, so I'll just put my new review above the old one here.)

"The human qualities of the raw materials show through. Naivety, error, contradiction, even (as in the cursing Psalms) wickedness are not removed. The total result is not "the Word of God" in the sense that every passage, in itself, gives impeccable science or history. It carries the Word of God; and we (under grace, with attention to tradition and to interpreters wiser than ourselves, and with the use of such intelligence and learning as we may have) receive that word from it not by using it as an encyclopedia or an encyclical but by steeping ourselves in its tone or temper and so learning its over-all message." (94)

References and allusions to Scripture appear throughout Lewis' work, but this little book is probably the closest thing he gives us to to an in-depth exposition on that subject matter. The result is a unique insight into his hermeneutical process and his doctrine of Scripture, which turns out to be quite distinct from both the rigid literalism of evangelical mind and lower views of Scripture typical of liberal thought. While the line he walks may seem precarious at points, it also embodies a balance of faithfulness and thoughtfulness that we twenty-first century Christians could probably learn from.

"It is surely, therefore, very possible that when God began to reveal himself to men, to show that He and nothing else is their true goal and the satisfaction of their needs, and that He has a claim upon them simply by being what he is, quite apart from anything that he can bestow or deny, it may have been absolutely necessary that this revelation should not begin with any hint of future Beatitude or Perdition."

Despite his disclaimer that he is a mere "amateur" when it comes to interpreting the Bible, Lewis' deep wisdom and disciplined faith continuously shine through in this short book, contributing plenty of fresh insights into the nature of the Scriptures and their significance for the Christian's life today

[Jaime T · Rating 2 out of 5]

i tried 😩 i just dont know what lewis is talking about most of the time 😭 but chapter 9 "A Word About Praising" was lovely ❤️ worth reading the book just for that chapter. 2 stars = it was ok (sorry maja :,)

[Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation...”
•
“The Scotch catechism says that man’s chief end is ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.”
•
Reflections on the Psalms was unlike any other C.S. Lewis book I’ve read - mostly because he rarely writes directly about Scripture. But he brilliantly illuminated my own qualms and uneasiness about the raw qualities in the Psalms - the desire for revenge, the claims of innocence before God, our cries of despair in suffering.
•
Because of Lewis’ background as a medievalist and professor of literature, he approaches the Psalms - ancient literature itself - with a completely fresh perspective. He stimulated my thoughts in new ways, with deeper appreciation both for the authors of the Psalms and the God they praise.
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Reading Reflections was a fulfillment of June’s pick for #thecslewisproject - my own personal challenge to read 12 books from my Lewis collection. I’m so glad it’s helping me tackle Lewis’ lesser-known but equally rich books.

[Winnie Thornton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantastic book with some truly dreadful moments. This is the only time I’ve known Lewis’s insight and logic to fail him so hard. His thoughts on the imprecatory psalms are hilariously (and uncharacteristically) bad. But that doesn’t perturb me. Jack loved disagreeing with his friends as much as he loved agreeing with them, so just cheerfully disagree with his gosh-awful exegesis in your mind, and be grateful for the rest.

[Brian Eshleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good observations make it worth reading but not of uniform quality all the way through.

[Deacon Tom (Feeling Better) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book and a very personal reflection on the Psalms.

I enjoyed it and I like the parts where he has specific insights that often align with mine. I guess that’s why I liked it so much.

Highly recommend.

[Jacob Aitken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much better than I thought it would be. I always thought, or had been told, that Lewis denigrated the imprecatory psalms. He did no such thing. He actually said "you can't act out these psalms today." If you did, you would probably be in sin and certainly break the law. To be sure, his position, never certain, is inadequate. It does make us think more deeply about these issues.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love being in the mind of the great C.S. Lewis!

[W.R. Gingell · Rating 5 out of 5]

the last third of this book is a great chaser/companion for Amy Peeler's Women and the Gender of God, which i'm also currently reading.

i have more to say about this book (i loved it with all my usual reservations with Lewis) but i want to read it again and organise my thoughts so i can give a coherent and useful review

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our evening Bible study group chose this book to read through together after discovering that one of the members of the group had never read anything by C. S. Lewis. Obviously that had to be rectified. (That person, by the way, loved the book and is glad to have read something by Lewis.)

This is an interesting book, in which Lewis plies his typically conversational, engaging style in looking at major themes throughout the Psalms. Or, maybe more accurately, major questions he had about how to make sense of the Psalms. Most of the twelve chapters of the book open with a question about some issue that had puzzled Lewis: Why do the psalmists so often demand judgment? Why do psalms so often seem to display a hatred of enemies, rather than mercy? Why does the idea of death seem so different in the Psalms from other parts of the Bible (and especially the New Testament)? And on and on. Sometimes I'd start in on one chapter and think, "This isn't a question I've ever had, so I don't know how interested I'll be in what Lewis is saying"—but then Lewis won me over with his prose and logic, and by the end of the chapter I had learned quite a lot.

In chapter 9, "A Word about Praising," Lewis addresses a question that he believes most people won't ever struggle with—which is funny, because it's actually my favorite chapter in the book. He asks why the psalms so frequently command us to praise God. "We all despise the man who demands continued assurance of his own virtue, intelligence or delightfulness," Lewis writes. So how does it make sense that a supposedly great God demands praise? It's an excellent question, and Lewis's answer to it takes the reader into the heart of who we are as humans. It is in our nature to praise what we love, what we deem the greatest examples of what we see around us. And when we recognize greatness, we don't merely praise it ourselves and that's it; no, we invite others to join with us, to celebrate the beautiful and wonderful. Not to do that would be to go against nature. So when the psalmists "command" praise, they are doing what we all do in every other area of our lives: "You must see this movie!" "Have you checked out that new restaurant? You're going to love it!" "You need to meet my new work colleague. She's absolutely amazing!" It's a command that's unnecessary and yet right, once you recognize that God is truly great and worthy of praise. We don't praise God only because he demands it of us—as though but for that command, we would never think of praising God; we praise God because we know him to be above all else, and the command to offer that praise is more an acknowledgment of what we most deeply want to do, whether commanded or not.

Many other insightful thoughts in this tour of themes in the Psalms, as applied to who we are today, so many years after the words were originally written down.

[Lizzy Brannan · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, this man completely astounds me with his wisdom and genius insight.

"Reflections on the Psalms" is just that. Reflection. The difference is that when C.S. Lewis reflects on anything, I, being on the receiving end, emerge enlightened. I completely see this book as more of a things-to-consider-when-reading-the-Psalm book. Lewis addresses problems he has seen others encounter with interpretation, second meanings referring to prophecies, themes, language, and poetry. I did use it as somewhat of a devotional book, though there is no spiritual guidance or wrap up in it. It really is a book which focuses on Lewis's interpretation of the Psalms and Old Testament, in general. He claims right away that he is no expert on hebraical language and culture, but his definition of expert is quite different than the commoner. I mean, he, being the world renown ancient/medieval literary genius he is completely understands approaching the Old Testament with a legitimate cultural, literary perspective.

I feast on the finest of meats when I read C.S. Lewis. Because of where I am in my spiritual biblical journey, I was able to use this book as a devotional book. I was ready for the Lewis approach to the Old Testament. It's not a conventional one, just so you know. But it is incredibly enlightening!

[Alexandru Croitor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mărturisesc că primele 7 capitole (din 12) au fost ... 'meh'. E posibil, ce-i drept, să nu le fi oferit tipul ăla de citire 'literară' pe care o dezvoltă Lewis în An Experiment in Criticism - if so, mea culpa.

Dar capitolul nouă - cel despre 'laudă' - și teologia biblică a Psalmilor pe care o dezvoltă în 10-12 au fost ... extraordinare. M-au adus în starea aia de citire "fără să vreau" și asta scoate în evidență geniul literar, dar și teologic al lui C. S. Lewis.
"Cred că ne place să lăudăm lucrurile de care ne bucurăm fiindcă lauda nu doar expirmă, ci și completează bucuria; este împlinirea ei firească." Dacă nu e clar deja, m-am bucurat de cartea asta. Reciproca e implicită. Lewis e un maestru!

[Miclea Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

• "Ziua Judecății este 'știuta zi, ziua mâniei'. Nicio conștiință nu poate rămâne insensibilă îm fața ei, căci în parabolă 'caprele' sunt condamnate în întregime pentru păcatele de omitere; vrând parcă să ne încredințeze căcea mai grea acuzație împotriva fiecăruia dintre noi vizează nu lucrurile pe care le-am facut, ci lucrurile pe care nu le-am făcut -probabil nici n-am visat vreodată să le facem."
• "Nu cunoaștem nimic mai frumos decât 'zâmbetul' de pe chipul Datoriei..."

[Eric Durso · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this work, Lewis will have you raising your eyebrows in disbelief. And then he'll stun you with some profoundly moving insights. Beware. There are a lot of bones to spit out.

[Amanda Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

The thing I love most about this little book is the speculative nature of it, which Lewis owns from the first sentence: "This is not a work of scholarship." He's conjecturing based on his knowledge of ancient cultures and the context of the whole Bible. I'm not sure about some of his conclusions, but he isn't either. He asks questions such as, did the inspired writers always know what they penned was inspired? Do the psalmists ever sin with their words (cursing their enemies, etc) and if so, what use are such writings to the Christian (i.e. why does God want us to read them?).

Lewis compares and contrasts often: other ancient works of similar literary genre to the psalms, the ancient Jewish perspective to the Christian perspective. He references specific psalms as well as the book in general to muse about topics like death, joy, praise, nature, the Law, and the Messianic "second meanings." I would not start a reader here to discover his nonfiction work, but for those of us who enjoy spending time with his humble, honest reflections on any topic, this book is certainly worthwhile.

[Grace Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, Lewis hits the theological nail on its head. While he would be the first to admit that he approaches the Psalms in this book from a lay perspective and as a normal Christian with a desire to understand Christ better through Scripture, he nevertheless raises some fascinating questions about the psalmist(s) as authors and their relationship to God, as well as how we ought to read them in our context as 21st century Christians. Such an encouraging read, and very thought-provoking!

[Claire Bowers-Dingus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, per usual. The idea that the psalmist was sinful and subject to violence — while at the same time affirming the validity and authority of Scripture — was interesting. I don’t often read the Psalms while making unique allowance for David’s character. I loved the chapter on ascribing glory to God. The completion of our admiration results in praise… we wouldn’t gatekeep a favorite author or celebrity from our best friends and family members. It makes sense.

I also enjoyed the history on pagan religions and why our tradition of Christianity is true. I want to learn more about Lewis’s allegorical take on Job (he mentioned that John Calvin believed much of the same).

[Christiana Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy reading Lewis’s thoughts on scripture. Not a super popular book of his/as famous as his other works, but has some insight that had me rethinking a few assumptions I had of a book of scripture I’ve read my whole life. I especially enjoyed his thoughts on nature in the Psalms.

[Joseph R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a refreshing honesty and candor. Lewis immediately states that this writing is not scholarly, definitive, or all-encompassing. He writes as one simple Christian to another, seeking a better understanding by pondering problems he has discovered and sharing insights he has gained while reading the Psalms.

Lewis writes about a variety of topics in the Psalms that strike him as significant. First, he notes the difference in the Psalms's presentation of divine judgment and the Christian's understanding of it. Christians usually think of the dies irae judgment when God separates the sheep from the goats or the wheat from the weeds at the end of time, an act full of fear and awe. The Psalms look at judgment as winning a civil lawsuit--the unjustly persecuted or deprived has their day in court and their recompense. The Psalms either praise this when it happens or implore God to make it happen. The contrast of views does not mean one is right and one is wrong; rather, a greater richness can be discovered in both views.

Other topics he looks at are death in the Psalms (which don't seem to embody the fully developed Christian notion of an afterlife), the sometimes shocking, sometimes juvenile cursing of enemies/desire for revenge on persecutors (even Psalm 23 wants God to set up a festive table in front of enemies, as if to rub their noses in it), the love for God as embodied in nature and in temple worship, the love of the law as something truly to embrace as joyful and not to fear as punishing, and several other ideas or themes.

The book is delightfully accessible. Lewis uses very down-to-earth language and explanations. It's as if he was talking with you rather than lecturing at you. He fosters a personal relationship through his writing. Isn't that what we as Christians look for in reading the Bible, to find a more personal relationship with God Himself? The book helps the reader be a better Christian by better knowing God through the Psalms.

Here's a sample where Lewis discusses the different interpretations of why certain Pagan myths are similar to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ:

And what are we to say of those gods in various Pagan mythologies who are killed and rise again and who thereby renew or transform the life of their worshippers [sic] or of nature? The odd thing is that here those anthropologists who are most hostile to our faith would agree with many Christians in saying "The resemblance is not accidental". Of course the two parties would say this for different reasons. The anthropologists would mean: "All these superstitions have a common source in the mind and experience, especially the agricultural experience, of early man. Your myth of Christ is like the myth of Balder because it has the same origin. The likeness is a family likeness." The Christians would fall into two schools of thought. The early Fathers (or some of them), who believed that Paganism was nothing but the direct work of the Devil, would say: "The Devil has from the beginning tried to mislead humanity with lies. As all accomplished liars do, he makes his lies as like the truth as he can; provided they lead man astray on the main issue, the more closely they imitate truth the more effective they will be. That is why we call him God's Ape; he is always imitating God. The resemblance of Adonis to Christ is therefore not at all accidental; it is the resemblance we expect to find between a counterfeit and the original, between imitation pearls and pearls." Other Christians who think, as I do, that in mythology divine and diabolical and human elements (the desire for a good story), all play a part, would say: "It is not accidental. In the sequence of night and day, in the annual death and rebirth of crops, in the myths which these processes gave rise to, in the strong, if half-articulate, feeling (embodied in many Pagan 'Mysteries') that man himself must undergo some sort of death if he would truly live, there is already a likeness permitted by God to that truth on which all depends. The resemblance between these myths and the Christian truth is no more accidental than the resemblance between the sun and the sun's reflection in a pond, or that between a historical fact and the somewhat garbled version of it which lives in popular report, or between the trees and hills of the real world and the trees and hills in our dreams." Thus all three views alike would regard the "Pagan Christs" and the true Christ as things really related and would find the resemblance significant. [pp. 105-107]

[Logan · Rating 1 out of 5]

In this book Lewis falls directly into the stereotype of the liberal that J Gresham Machen was defending against. It was shockingly bad at times. Lewis "concedes" that the psalms are human compositions with a hint of the divine in them. That the Israelites hadn't gotten away from their polytheism and paganism but that this is part of the progression in man's understanding of God. That concept of a monotheistic God may have arisen with an Egyptian pharaoh but that's okay because God could have used that as part of his revelation. That the psalms that seem to prophecy of Christ may be coincidence or just may be that the authors were so focused on the divine that they wrote in a language and manner which could be understood by others who are focused on the divine. That the imprecatory psalms are unchristian but we can still use them in a somewhat useful way (e.g., when talking about the "horrible" part about infants being dashed against a stone, one could think of all the little sins and habits in their own life that seem innocent and harmless yet need to be dashed to pieces).

It was an absolute trainwreck of theology and a denial of inspiration in any real, meaningful sense. There may have been some useful bits in there but I was too busy being shocked to notice! Thankfully Lewis had better books but this makes me much more wary of him.

[Miss Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was one I read very slowly, initially as part of my Lenten reading and then well into the Easter season. Lewis never ceases to amaze me with his ability to so lucidly present a difficulty, many of which I have struggled with, and then go on to so superbly untangle it and as he comes to grasp it, so do I. Such an excellent book. Reading the Psalms, there have always been so many things I found impossible to understand and which often hindered my appreciation of these songs of praise, easily one of my favorite books of the Bible. And through a more solid historical and cultural understanding, so many of those issues fell away.


A few of my favorite chapters were The Cursings, Sweeter Than Honey, and Connivance. (pages 70-72)

For the Supernatural, entering a human soul, opens to it new possibilities both of good and evil. From that point the road branches: one way to sanctity, love, humility, the other to spiritual pride, self-righteousness, persecuting zeal. And no way back to the humdrum virtues of the unawakened soul. If the Divine call does not make us better, it will make us much worse. Of all bad men religious bad men are the worst.

~ from The Cursings