Abstract
Bellinger is a well-known expert on the Psalms and tells us that ‘I have worked on the Psalms for decades and written about this beautiful text in various forms.’ (p. ix) His deep engagement with and love for the Psalter comes across in this mature, thoughtful and prayerful book. He cites John Calvin’s words that the Psalms are ‘the anatomy of all the parts of the human soul’ and opens with a brief history of the tradition of reading and praying the Psalms. In this book Bellinger suggests that the Psalms provide us with a ‘grammar of faith’, i.e a resource for faith, but even more, a language in which to express it so that it becomes a reality in itself. He notes that the psalms are used devotionally and yet they are rarely preached on – a resource needs to be ‘at the ready’ (p. 5) and so we need to preach and teach it regularly. The Psalms encompass the highs and lows of life and these texts need to be woven into the ‘warp and woof of our living’, says Bellinger (p. 5)
Bellinger is steeped in a form-critical heritage of scholarship and deeply influenced by the idea of a final shape for the Psalter with its own movement towards a goal. He is interested in the literary patterns of psalms and their connection with worship (ancient and modern), also with their historical and thematic location within the Psalter, which in turn reveal meaning. Yet he is also concerned with their link to lived faith – ‘they get to the deep down stuff of faith’ (p. 12) – and ultimately meanings are linked to the readers make psalms their own ‘grammar of faith’.
After an introductory chapter in which Psalms 6 (lament) and 8 (praise) are discussed, Bellinger turns to a second chapter on lament psalms and a third on psalms of praise with a detailed analysis of examples. In chapter 4 he airs the idea of ‘anthology’ – like a garden of flowers psalms are each flowers to enjoy and yet – to extend his image - there is also a demonstrable beauty to arrangements of flower beds and to the whole garden. He stresses, though, that sequence is still important and that the shape of individual books (five in the Psalter) is crucial to understanding them, as is awareness of beginnings and endings and sequences within the texts and the shape of the whole. He posits that the crisis of the Israelite exile was a key shaping moment, but that theological themes of theodicy, protest and praise are heard throughout. Ultimately though ‘questions of genre are in the end reader- and hearer-generated issues’ (p. 95). He lays a special emphasis on the role of book 5 of the Psalter in giving direction to the whole via its ‘multiple plots’. This is a successful mix of a resource for readers and congregations and an engagement with serious scholarship. It should be widely read and recommended.