Product Description

Capturing the depth of the Psalms

The seasons of our lives change. Using a model of orientation—disorientation—new orientation, Brueggemann explores how the genres of the Psalms can be viewed in terms of their function. This results in fresh readings of these ancient songs that illumine their spiritual depth. The voices of the Psalms come through in all their bold realism.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #71414 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 80 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780800634506
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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About the Author
Walter Brueggemann is William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. Among his many Fortress Press publications are: Theology of the Old Testament (1997), The Covenanted Self (1999), Texts That Linger, Words That Explode (2000), and Deep Memory, Exuberant Hope (2000).

Customer Reviews

Brueggemann Shines Again
Barbara and I both avidly admire The Psalms and Dr. Brueggemann. Our greatest expectation for the summer is to hear him preach and teach at the Presbyterian Conference on Music and Worship at Montreat. I am deeply indebted to him for his keenly inspired commentary on GENESIS. For two quarters of Preaching Genesis, I have tuned-into his studies in depth to prepare several sermons and hear young students at MERCER/McAFEE School of Theology preach their sermons inspired by Brueggemann.

This little gem of a book is the abridged version of The Message of Psalms. In his final chapter of the shorter version, he focuses on God's Justice. There he sites his thesis of three dimensions of 'orientation, disorientation and reorientation:'
* It is pathological to challenge the present order of economic and political power.
* It is pathological to suggest that God may be unjust.
* It is pathological to speak, as some of these psalms do, in a voice of disorientation.

Brueggemann inserts 'imprisonment' as one crisis in which the seven psalms of disorientation are best addressed. Here is the one place in all of his books on Psalms where I have read his clearest views on the issue of theodicy. "The struggle of the oppressed against the unjust, when cast theologically, is the issue of theodicy."

Only recenty in someone's sermon I read that, "God prefers the losers in life." While serving as the Chaplain in Georgia's Diagnostic Center, I often wondered if this is not the case for a very few of the choicest and often long-termed inmates. I did often repeat the points of Brueggemann's sermons to the inmates for the Sunday evening sermons. One or two were read back to me by inmates in their rehabilitation group discussions. When I repeated that incident one day in a chance meeting with Prof. Brueggemann, he smiled and replied: "Gee, Thanks!"

Never before as minister, chaplain or teacher have I discovered so many profound yet simple books by one commentator, especially focused upon the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible. Thanks and WOW!
Chaplain Fred W. Hood

a tiny gem
This little book, which is an abridged version of Brueggemann's longer volume The Message of the Psalms (1984), explains why the "strange literature" of the Psalms has had such an abiding influence on Christians down through the centuries. In particular, Brueggemann shows how and why the "psalms of negativity," largely neglected by believers because they sound so harsh and are thus embarrassing, remain so relevant to the personal, pastoral, and public dimensions of Christian life today. He does not treat all the Psalms, or even most of them, but instead offers a threefold scheme to understand the theological trajectory of these powerful poems--psalms of orientation, psalms of disorientation, and psalms of new orientation.

In my own experience I agree wholeheartedly with Brueggemann when he writes that today "much Christian piety and spirituality is romantic and unreal in its positiveness...But such a way not only ignores the Psalms; it is a lie in terms of our experience." The "psalms of negativity" are thus profoundly subversive because they help us to embrace what we try so very hard to deny, that is, the darkness, self-deception, and overall disorientation that characterizes much of life. Our culture prizes success and control, and even does not like surprises. But the Psalms, says Brueggemann, point us to a twofold movement of faith. First, we move from a settled orientation to a season of disorientation. Then, we move on to a new orientation that comes to us as a surprise gift of God's grace. Of course, this cycle continues and repeats itself throughout life. The "stunning fact," writes Brueggemann, "is that Israel does not purge this unrestrained speech but regards it as genuinely faithful communication" with God. That should be no less true today than three millennia ago when these poem-prayers were first written. Far from a literature that we should shun or explain away, these psalms offer to us a unique "healing candor."

Academic; Assumes a LOT of its Readers
I agree with the one other reviewer of this book on the PSALMS and take no issue with that review. However, I wish to review from another angle......that of the beginner to the study of scripture. This book is not a book for beginners. It is very academic. When I purchased this book, because it is short, less than 100 pages, I assumed it would be sort of a "primer" introduction to the study of the Psalms. That it is NOT! My Bible study class is studying the Psalms at my church and I am sure most people in the class studying the Psalms for the first time would be quite put off by this book. One thing that I find quite troublesome, even for an academic treatment is this: Brueggemann cites name of other authors in the text and then does not place a citation for that author reference in the bibliography. The practice of doing this is drilled into any high school student writing their first term paper and Brueggemann is lax in this regard as is the publisher who allowed that oversight and lack of rigor by Brueggemann, an academic author who should know better.