The Psalms: Songs of Tragedy, Hope, and Justice

Bible & Liberation

by J. David Pleins

"A clarion call to those who read and repeat the words of the Psalms, to receive and understand them as marching orders in the campaign for human rights and dignity. Only in this way can [their] full meaning be grasped and appropriated in our day."--David Noel Freedman
"By bringing together this urgency for justice and the gains of genre analysis, Pleins offers a reading of the Psalms that is responsive to the socio-political impulses all around us, which require theological-liturgical response. His is an important reading of this ancient/contemporary poetry."--Walter Brueggemann
This stirring new translation of the ancient hymns and prayers of the psalter provides on new perspecftive on their meaning for both individuals nad communities, from biblical times to the present. Pleins reveals in the Psalms the core of a liberating worship that grasps the realities of individual suffering as well as the stern demands of social justice.

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1993

About the author

J. David Pleins, Ph.D.

Professor

Pleins earned his Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from the University of Michigan in 1987. Having done archaeological work in Jordan, Pleins' research and teaching interests include the religious debates around Charles Darwin, mythology, biblical social ethics, and the problem of evil. He latest book brings to light the long-lost "Memorial Poem" penned by George Romanes, a prominent colleague of Darwin. His current research concerns the debates over the book of Genesis in the 19th century and the on-going creation-evolution controversies.

http://www.scu.edu/cas/religiousstudi...