By Walter Brueggemann
Interesting. Insightful. Practical.
Spirituality of the Psalms is not an in-depth devotional commentary such as Spurgeon's Treasury of David or the work of Alexander Maclaren; nor is it strictly speaking an overarching exegetical work, whether that work be brief (e.g. Kidner) or extensive (e.g. Allen, Broyles, Perowne, or Wilson). Instead, Brueggemann helps the reader understand "that a major move of the Psalms is the move from an ordered, reliable life to an existence that somehow has run amok," and how the psalmist re-orients toward God in the face of it. This theme of Orientation, Disorientation, Re-Orientation is the subject of his book.
If you want to understand the Psalms, more so your own walk with God, purchase Spirituality of the Psalms. This is a book to be read and studied. The author provides multiple examples of psalms of orientation, disorientation, and re-orientation. He also offers additional Scriptural support outside the Psalms. Additionally, Brueggemann will help you avoid the tendency to treat the Psalms merely as a guide to a privatized spirituality. As he points out in Chapter 5, "Spirituality and God's Justice," the psalms highlight theodicy (God's goodness and justice in an evil world). That justice operates in community and communion, therefore, "reflections on theodicy . . . always spill over into the public dimensions of life." (Chapter 5).
Brueggemann provides the insightful analysis of a scholar. For example, in discussing the "hidden gap" between verses in a psalm when the writer goes from plea to praise, he takes us to a deeper discussion among scholars, including that of Joachim Begrich:
The deliverance oracle is a promise on God's part to be present with, to help, and to intervene on behalf of the petitioner. The recurring feature of such a speech is the sovereign "fear not" of Yahweh. And that speech -- so goes the hypothesis -- resolves the desperate situation and permits the speaker to begin life anew in confidence and gratitude. It is argued that the "fear not" represents the primal communication that touches the deepest fears and angers and opens the most profound possibilities, when it is spoken by one who has consent from us to change our world.
I appreciate Brueggemann's work for many reasons, but perhaps most notably for taking us to the place most don't want to go -- the place of disorientation -- when our world doesn't make sense and God seems silent. Brueggemann writes:
We have spent a major portion of our time and space on that reality in the Psalms because that is the part of the Psalter that has been most neglected (italics mine) in church use. In the present religious situation, it may be the part of the Psalter that is most helpful, because we live in a society of denial and cover-up, and these psalms provide a way for healing candor.
Bruegemmann reminds us that in the Psalms as in life, "we can never go home again." God works in the unpleasant situations of our lives to take us to new heights (and depths) that we might know more of Him wherever we are.
I gave this book five stars because Brueggemann brought to a light a key insight that impacts my reading of all the Psalms (Orientation, Disorientation, New Orientation). He helped me appreciate the spirituality of the psalms for my walk with God and my walk with God in community. Finally, his treatment of theodicy and community was very helpful.