The many introductions to the psalms available to readers tend to focus on various types and forms of psalms but overlook different theological approaches to the Psalter. This volume brings together leading psalms scholars from Catholic and Protestant traditions and takes into account recent scholarship on the shape and shaping of the Psalter and on the rhetorical interpretation of the Psalms.

Hassell Bullock has studied, taught, and written successful texts on the Psalms for forty years. In this book, he walks through how the Psalms convey the grand story of creation and redemption, Scripture's two theological ends, and the underlying story of God and humanity in relationship. Bullock explains how the literal and metaphorical language in the Psalms work together to articulate the message and deepen our understanding. He presents interpretive principles gleaned from the psalmists themselves and shows how these writers make intertextual connections to other Scriptures, sometimes quoting but mostly alluding, which can help us make corresponding connections between Old and New Testament teachings. The Psalms are examples of applying wisdom and Scriptures to personal and national issues and of how God interacts and intervenes in real-life situations, which help us apply the Bible today. Bullock's mature reflections and guidance on understanding and applying the Psalms' theological message will complement any traditional introduction to the Psalms.

The pastor who seeks to preach expositionally through Psalms faces a daunting task, for the sermon series would take several years to complete and many of the sermons would seem repetitious because of similar psalms. To respond to this challenge the author has used the book theology method to analyze the Book of Psalms into twenty-eight theological themes, providing the preacher with material for approximately a one-year series on the book. Each chapter includes a list of applicable theological propositions that can be preached or taught to contemporary audiences. Then the chapter concludes by linking the topic to New Testament passages. This monograph contains over seventy tables, mainly charting the Hebrew terms used for a particular theme. Careful textual and exegetical notes provide guidance for translation and interpretation of many verses. Furthermore, relevant Hebrew word studies inform theological understanding. Backing up the analysis are numerous references to Psalm commentaries, both classical and contemporary.

The fifteen Psalms of Ascents (Psalms 120–134) are an important collection within the Psalms that focuses on the journey towards the presence of God, a God who is at once the “maker of heaven and earth” but also encountered in a particular place and among a particular people. This book explores their rich imagery to show how they nourish a hopeful search for God’s presence in a world that includes crises and hostility, not only in the world but tragically also within the people of God. The Psalms of Ascents are a summons to a spirituality for priest and people, the powerful and the marginalized, for anyone suspended between struggle and hope on the journey towards God. While this book gives readers a focused discussion on the theology and spirituality of these psalms, it also explores their role in the whole canon of Christian Scripture. As such, the book provides a resource for studying, teaching, and preaching these fifteen Psalms, but can also serve as an entryway into the rest of the book of Psalms.

In this monumental work, his most ambitious undertaking, the late Samuel Terrien brings together a lifetime of scholarship on Psalms, long the wellspring of Jewish spirituality as well as the main hymnal of the Christian church. The book's insightful and clearly written introduction treats such subjects as the longevity and ecumenicity of the psalms, their Near Eastern background, the Hebrew text and ancient versions, their music, their strophic structure, their literary genre, their theology, and their relation to the New Testament. In the commentary itself Terrien freshly elucidates the theological significance of these collected poems by putting readers in touch with the formal versatility and religious passion of the psalmists themselves. While Terrien always engages in scientific exegesis before drawing theological conclusions, he is careful to allow full expression to the theological -- and, especially, the doxological -- voice of these unmatched spiritual songs. The result is a commentary that provides a link between the archaic language of Psalms and the intellectual demands of modern thinking and spirituality. Throughout his exposition Terrien shows great respect for the scribal testimony of the Jewish tradition, especially the consonants of the Masoretic text. He likewise displays great care in finding the most accurate meaning for Hebrew words of obscure origin. This meticulous work renders a translation of Psalms more reliable than those of Terrien's predecessors. He also draws on many fruitful gains of structural analysis in discerning the strophic divisions within the Hebrew text. Often he finds unity of composition where earlier critics denied it. And for readersinterested in specific aspects of translation and interpretation, Terrien has appended bibliographical lists of modern works on each psalm.

Taking his point of departure from the newest frontier of research, McCann reads the psalms in the context of their final shape and canonical form. He interprets the psalms as scripture as well as in their character as songs, prayers, and poetry from Israel's history. McCann's intent is to contribute to the church's recovery of the psalms as torah--as instruction, as a guide to prayer, praise of God, and pious living. The explicit connections which McCann draws from the psalms to the New Testament and to Christian faith and life are extensive, making his work suitable for serious study of the psalms in academic and in church settings. An appendix examines the tradition of singing the psalms and offers suggestions for the use of the psalms in worship.

The biblical psalms are perhaps the most commented-upon texts in human history. They are at once deeply alluring and deeply troubling. In this addition to the acclaimed Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible, a highly respected scholar offers a theological reading of Psalms 1-50, exploring the various voices in the poems to discern the conversation they engage about God, suffering, and hope as well as ways of community belonging. The commentary examines the context of the psalms as worship--tending to both their original setting and their subsequent Jewish and Christian appropriation--and explores the psychological dynamics facing the speaker. Foreword by William P. Brown.

The author’s discussion of Crow tribal history and his vivid descriptions of current reservation life show how the Apsáalooke are adapting to a changing world. By examining pivotal social and religious institutions, including the clan-uncle and clan-aunt relationships, the acquisition and use of medicine, and the Sun Dance, the author show how reciprocity and interdependence weave together Apsáalooke society and help individuals determine their place in clan, society, and cosmos.

Reflecting the combined insights and strengths of three superior biblical scholars, this book is the most complete and detailed one-volume commentary available on the Psalms. Nancy deClaisse-Walford, Rolf Jacobson, and Beth LaNeel Tanner offer a succinct introduction to the Psalter, a new translation of all the psalms that takes special account of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and individual entries on each psalm unit. Throughout their commentary they drew on state-of-the-art research on the canonical shape and shaping of the Psalter and give nuanced attention to the poetic nature of the psalms.