Abstract
Designed to serve the Church and further Biblical theology, the Brazos Commentary Series approaches Biblical texts, informed by doctrine from the Nicene tradition. Charry’s book rises to the occasion, with frequent and elucidating references ranging from the Church Fathers (Augustine, Calvin, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and Theodoret of Cyprus, in particular) to modern commentators on the Psalms (her bibliography includes works published up to 2012, with some notable use of Brown, Goldingay, Mays, Miller, and McCann). She also incorporates Jewish traditions richly, paying considerable attention to Rashi, Ibn Ezra, and Midrash on Psalms. Her sensitivity to religious traditions other than her own cultural background is evident as she substitutes the phrases ‘Older Testament’ and ‘Younger Testament’ for the more commonplace designations. Despite being initially aimed at a Church readership, then, Charry challenges the reader’s assumptions and strives to broaden perspectives.
This first volume tackles Psalms 1–50. Each Psalm is treated in turn (wisely excepting the pairings of Pss 9–10 and 42–43). Psalms 1 and 2 become recurrent themes throughout: many of Charry’s later commentaries refer back to the ‘gateway of the Psalter’ with respect to both content and form. Her uniform treatment takes ‘Canonical Context and Themes’ to introduce some eye-catching general observations about each psalm, its placing, content, voices, and addressees. Next she proposes ‘Structure and Dynamics’, where she comes up against the common challenge in Psalms scholarship to segment the text and analyse any argument it contains. This is usually followed by subheadings giving variously detailed treatment of small and large chunks of text as she deems fit. Finally her third section is ‘Theological Pedagogy’, where she offers general reflections on the Psalms for the reader to take away and continue to ponder, while avoiding ecclesial language of ‘application’.
With an elegant writing style and many incisive insights from her own studies, Charry considers the Hebrew thoughtfully and closely (those without Hebrew may sometimes feel they are missing something) and makes various lively connections with other ‘Older Testament’ texts. The seasoned Psalms scholar may notice a lack of some current Psalms scholarship, yet there is much included that goes beyond what might normally be expected in a Psalms commentary. There is plenty of material here both to inspire afresh those who know the Psalms well, and to entice further those who would like to get to know them better.