Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends

Introduction

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He believed that the words of the Psalms could become the prayers of his own congregation, and that in praying the Psalms believers would be healed of their own heart- sickness. From Augustine’s perspective, the Psalms provide a context in which the church can interpret its own suffering. 3 Though he lived more than 1,500 years ago, his writings continue to shape the church. His observations about human life and faith are strikingly relevant today. The book you are holding does not offer a full cross-section of Augustine’s interpretation of the Psalms. Instead, I have selected some of his richest pastoral insights. Augustine is not the only ancient writer you will meet on these pages. I have chosen two dozen other voices for this project as well—men and women who lived between the AD 200s and the 1500s and were also passionate about the Psalms. We will listen in on what some of Augustine’s peers in the 4th and 5th centuries have to say: John Chrysostom and Basil the Great, Ambrose and Athanasius. We will eavesdrop on instruction from a 9th century noblewoman named Dhouda to her warrior son on how to read the Psalms. From the 13th century we will meet the very logical Thomas Aquinas, who thinks in outlines, and the effusive Gertrude the Great, who relishes the sweetness of God’s love as she prays the Psalms. You will also meet writers from the 16th century: John Calvin, the level-headed interpreter of the Protestant Reformation, and Katharina Schütz Zell, whose pastoral sensibility brings the Psalms to life for those who suffer. A full list of contributors and a timeline of when they lived are included in the appendices.

3 Michael C. McCarthy, “An Ecclesiology of Groaning: Augustine, the Psalms, and the Making of Church,” Theological Studies 66 (2005) 23-48.