Synopses & Reviews
Written centuries before Christ, the Psalms of the Hebrew Bible have been prayed by Christians since the founding of the Church. The early church fathers expounded the psalms in the light of the mystery of Christ, his death and resurrection, and his saving redemption. In this book, a Benedictine monk examines the Christian praying of the Psalms, taking into account modern and contemporary research on the Psalms. Working from the Hebrew text, Fr. Laurence Kriegshauser offers a verse-by-verse commentary on each of the one hundred and fifty psalms, highlighting poetic features such as imagery, rhythm, structure, and vocabulary, as well as theological and spiritual dimensions and the relation of psalms to each other in the smaller collections that make up the whole. The book attempts to integrate modern scholarship on the Psalms with the act of prayer and help Christians pray the psalms with greater understanding of their Christological meaning.The book contains an introduction, a glossary of terms, an index of topics, a table of English renderings of selected Hebrew words, and an index of biblical citations. Praying the Psalms in Christ will be welcomed by students of theology and liturgy, by priests, religious, and laypeople who pray the Liturgy of the Hours, and by all Christians who seek to pray the Psalms with greater profit and fervor.
“It is no easy task to combine devotion with scholarship. From the introduction onwards this book breathes a prayerfulness that lifts the heart to God. With contemporary linguistic, literary, and theological scholarship, it joins the rich tradition of the Church expressed over the centuries in the writings of the Fathers. Each psalm is given a striking image as a sort of ‘logo’ and then discussed for itself. A special feature of the book is the appreciation that the prayer of the psalms in Christ is interwoven, threads of one bringing richness to another.” —Dom Henry Wansbrough, Master Emeritus of St. Benet’s Hall, Oxford
“In Praying the Psalms in Christ, Fr. Kriegshauser has given us a form of reading the psalms that runs very close in intention to that ancient practice of lectio divina where the text of the bible is read prayerfully as a form of contemplative prayer. His prayerful study is made all the more rich by the abundant cross references to other places in the bible, both Old and New Testaments, that add richness to the text. The result is an informative and spiritually nourishing companion to reading the psalms.” —Lawrence S. Cunningham, University of Notre Dame
"Clear, accessible, and rooted in the tradition, Praying the Psalms in Christguides us into the ancient prayers of Israel and the Church. The result is a fresh contribution to the great Christian tradition of spiritual commentary.” —Russell R. Reno, Creighton University
Review
“This book offers suggestions about how the psalms can become the vehicles of Christ’s prayer in his Body the Church. The author works from the Hebrew text and is always quick to note where it yields greater depth or concreteness than the translations . . . this work is for students, ministers and all who have had some prior induction into the psalms and Scripture.” —Catholic Library World
Review
“The greatest strength of the book is its detailed cross-referencing. Throughout the commentary Kriegshauser refers to both Testaments, inviting readers into a deeper reflection on the biblical text as a whole. Another positive aspect is his brief introduction to and regular engagement with critical scholarship. Kriegshauser reads the psalms canonically; he keeps an eye on different genres of psalms and on recognizing the shape and shaping of the psalms as/into a book.” —The Catholic Biblical Quarterly
Review
"Many will profitably read Laurence Kriegshauser, O.S.B.'s Praying the Psalms in Christ from cover to cover, but many more will gratefully consult it for its learned and lection divina exposition. Psalm by psalm Kriegshauser smoothly keeps track of key Hebrew words, with their repetitions and their echoes, and he highlights them like a good docent in a cathedral or museum. He does not get in the way of the Way." --Review for Religious
Review
"Father Kriegshauser, a Benedictine monk in Missouri, takes a wholly traditional approach with his Praying the Psalms in Christ, a patient verse-by-verse and image-by-image exposition of each psalm in the spirit of the most ancient patristic commentaries, although Kriegshauser does take good advantage of recent scholarship . . . as a year-long course with a learned priest, it will amply reward the patient Christian reader." —Library Journal
Synopsis
Written centuries before Christ, the Psalms of the Hebrew Bible have been prayed by Christians since the founding of the Church. The early church fathers expounded the psalms in the light of the mystery of Christ, his death and resurrection, and his saving redemption. In this book, a Benedictine monk examines the Christian praying of the psalms, taking into account modern and contemporary research on the psalms. Working from the Hebrew text, Fr. Laurence Kriegshauser offers a verse-by-verse commentary on each of the one hundred and fifty psalms, highlighting poetic features such as imagery, rhythm, structure, and vocabulary, as well as theological and spiritual dimensions and the relation of psalms to each other in the smaller collections that make up the whole. The book attempts to integrate modern scholarship on the psalms with the act of prayer and help Christians pray the psalms with greater understanding of their Christological meaning. The book contains an introduction, a glossary of terms, an index of topics, a table of English renderings of selected Hebrew words, and an index of biblical citations. Praying the Psalms in Christ will be welcomed by students of theology and liturgy, by priests, religious, and laypeople who pray the Liturgy of the Hours, and by all Christians who seek to pray the psalms with greater profit and fervor.
About the Author
Laurence Kriegshauser, O.S.B., is a Benedictine monk at St. Louis Abbey, St. Louis, Missouri.