Prolific New Testament scholar Wright fears that the contemporary
praise-song is crowding out the ancient Hebrew prayer-songs that have
traditionally informed Christian liturgy and personal devotion. The
Psalms constituted Jesus’ and his followers’ hymnal, he reminds us, and
then proceeds in three chapters to argue their merits for those who
read, recite, and sing them regularly. Such use of the Psalms allows the
worshipper to appreciate and dwell in God’s time—where past and future
meet in the present; in God’s space, here called Jerusalem and the
Temple, both of which Christianity came to see as the whole world and
the human heart; and in the midst of God’s good matter, the physical
Creation. Wright advances his explanation of the Psalms’ special
efficacies through generous quotations, and he uses a final chapter to
tell some stories of particular psalms’ effects on his spiritual
development. He also writes a context for what he quotes that is almost
as graceful, if not as stunningly beautiful, as the Psalms themselves.
