Renewal in Christ: Athanasius on the Christian Life

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Renewal in Christ: Athanasius on the Christian Life

gift for speaking. But the Lord, who is truly Lord over all and concerned for those in distress, not only gave the law but also offered himself as a type, so that they might know the plans he is accomplishing by his power. It was surely because of this that, before the time he spent among us, he made this known in the Psalms in order that just as he made known in himself the earthly and the heavenly man by types, so also from the Psalms the one who is willing is able to learn the inner movements and dispositions of souls, finding in the Psalms both the healing and the correction needed for each movement. §14 – There Are Various Types of Psalms If it is necessary to speak even more to the point, let us first of all admit that the entire divine Scripture teaches virtue and the truths of the faith, but that the book of Psalms contains the primary pattern for how souls are to be managed. For just as one who comes before a king carries with him a certain comportment and demeanor in what he says, so that he might not be thrown out as uneducated when he talks, in the same way for those striving toward virtue and wanting to comprehend the life of the Savior in the body, when they read this divine book it first of all brings to mind the inner movements of the soul and in this way further models and teaches petitioners such words as they should use. For it must first be observed that in this book there are Psalms that speak in narrative form, in exhortations, in prophecies, in the form of prayer, as well as in confession: • There are those in narrative form, such as Psalms 19, 44, 49, 50, 73, 77, 78, 89, 90, 107, 114 [and 115], 127, 137;