Reflections on the Psalms

Great reviews have already been written about this book. I can only add my testimony of their truthfulness. Lewis doesn't claim to be a Biblical scholar. He is merely sharing his thoughts on the Psalms. He emphasizes that they are not commandments, but poetry, meant to be sung. They portray the principles, thoughts and weaknesses of the Psalmists. In addition, I have heard ideas which had not occurred to me before.

In ordering this book, I had hoped Lewis would go into indepth reflections on the psalms; he does not. Instead he explore themes that influenced the psalms, he looks at certain misunderstandings, such as those people who are inclined to put pagan mythology and scripture on the same plane. He also draws out themes from the psalms, such as royalty, looks at what they meant in the ancient world, and what they mean in the Christian context. Additionally he does look at various passages from the psalms, and ponders the meaning of them, in particular I enjoyed his interpretation of the verse in Psalm 137 which speaks of bashing the heads of Babylonian babies on rocks, he really put it in quite an acceptable light.(to find out what it is, pick up the book!)

With the sensitivity of a poet and the honesty of a scholar, C.S. Lewis delves into the Psalms. In doing so, he is not afraid to raise uncomfortable questions, such as how to understand the apparent self-righteousness and gleefulness of many psalmists; or the question whether God is an egocentric monarch who demands people to praise Him as if He needed such praise. Other issues Lewis deals with are the concept of Judgment in the Psalms, as well as their portrayals of death, nature, and the beauty of God. He also devotes two chapters to understanding the prophecies, or second meanings, in the Psalms For me, however, the most interesting part was C.S. Lewis's view on the Bible as seen in the book. Except for some of his essays, letters, and recorded Q & A sessions, C.S. Lewis has been rather sparse on clearly stating his view on Scripture. This makes his Reflections on the Psalms a valuable resource to a Lewis scholar, since it shows his view on the Bible more clearly than any other of his books. To summarize his view, he emphasizes that the Bible is not a Divine encyclopaedia. We cannot simply turn the Bible to the headwords stars, earth, animals, homo sapiens, and find a Divine exposition that explains God's perspective on the topic in a systematic manner. The Bible is a canon of various types of literature, to be approached in various ways. It is not an encyclopaedia but an anthology: God selecting a canon which, taken as a whole, portrays the history of the Incarnation, using myth, chronicle, poetry and prophecy to do so. Many people would of course rather have a Divine encyclopaedia than a Divine anthology of human literature. The latter seems to be rather an "untidy and leaky vehicle," as C.S. Lewis puts it. We much prefer "something we could have tabulated and memorised and relied on like the multiplication table." But only because we wish the Bible were different, it does not mean that it is different. God does not necessarily share our opinion that a Divine encyclopaedia would be best for us. As C.S. Lewis says: "There is one argument which we should beware of using for either position: God must have done what is best, this is best, therefore God has done this. For we are mortals and do not know what is best for us, and it is dangerous to prescribe what God must have done - especially when we cannot, for the life of us, see that He has after all done it." Even Jesus, the Word that truly was perfect, does not measure up to some people's expectations of the Bible. He did not communicate a Divine encyclopaedia to mankind. Jesus wrote no book. "We have only reported sayings, most of them uttered in answer to questions, shaped in some degree by their context." He preached and conversed rather than lectured, using thereby the whole range of human expressions such as we can expect from a carpenter: "paradox, proverb, exaggeration, parable, irony." If we took all of His sayings literally, they would contradict each other. One can therefore no

The first time I read this book, many years ago, I was bothered by what I took as Lewis' disrespectful approach to the OT. One chapter of the book is called "Cursings," and in it Lewis forthrightly notes his initial impression that "the Jews are much more vindictive and vitriolic than the Pagans." While he finds something of great value (even refreshing) in their honest anger at injustice, (see Rene Girard's The Scapegoat for a fascinating perspective on violence and religion) some passages he still labels "diabolical." In the following chapter, "Death in the Psalms," Lewis frankly admits that most of the psalmists did not appear to know about heaven and hell. And in his chapter on "Scripture," he admits to the presence of "naivite, error, contradiction, even wickedness," in the OT. I did not like this. Nor did I know enough about nature poetry and paganism, monotheism in other cultures, or Meditteranean cultures, to appreciate all his insights. What I think I did appreciate, and still do, was the way in which Lewis explains the poetry of the Psalms, the "beauty of the Law," (as in Psalm 119), love of nature, "second meanings" in the Psalms, and most of all, the life-enhancing chapter called "A Word about Praising." John Piper developed this chapter into a whole theology. (See Confessions of a Christian Hedonist.) But the most poetic explanation lies here: "I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise . . . I had not noticed how the humblest, and at the same time the most balanced and capacious, minds, praised most, while cranks, misfits and malconents praised least . . . Praise almost seems to be inner health made audible . . . The Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about." That chapter is one of the most enlightening and enchanting (in the literal sense) series of marks that have ever been made on paper, I think. Lewis works a powerful counter-spell to the curse of the reductionists, whom he soundly defeats in argument, re-enchanting the world with the glory of God. I see Lewis' idea confirmed every day -- when my children call me to see a funny scene in a cartoon, or a beautiful sea shell on the beach, for example.What I found on my first reading of this book remains with me, and grows as I learn more of life. I've also come to appreciate Lewis' take on Scripture, though I am not sure he is completely right. Lewis differs from both skeptic and inerracist in that he makes no a priori assumptions, either that there are no mistakes in Scripture, or that God cannot do miracles. This allows him to be frank and take a truly empirical approach. His conclusion is that the Bible is inspired not like the Koran is said to be, written word-for-word in heaven before time began, but as "the same sort of material as any other literature . . . taken into the service of God's word." Those who see only a human literature are like illiterates wh

It's a shame that so many of the people who enjoy Lewis's theological works never read his enlightening discussion of the Psalms. This book does not have the polemic approach of some of his other works. This is (by Lewis's own admission) not a work of scholarship, being more like one schoolboy comparing notes with another in describing the difficulties met and joys gained in reading the Psalms. Lewis notes that the Psalms are poems, intended to be sung, and not doctrinal treatises on which to base a system of theology. He selects various psalms for his discussions, enlightening them with his usual good sense, using illustrations from daily life and the literary world. Lewis's approach is far more helpful than most others who comment on the Psalms and should be read with interest by those familiar with this part of the Bible.