Reflections on the Psalms

I had this book for years, lent it to someone, and never got it back. On re-reading I can see why I missed it so much. CS Lewis faces squarely many of the problems that I, and I'm sure others, have with some of the Psalms: harsh human judgement, the cursings, sometimes the sheer vindictiveness and pettiness of the writers, and takes us through to the majesty of God seen through nature, justice, salvation, mercy and love, and helps us to discern wisely 'second meanings' in the Psalms from the perspective of the revelation of Jesus Christ.

What a splendid little book - this is the first time I have come across it, and have found it to be an absolute mine of information. It not only brings the Psalms alive, but it brings them up-to-date with everyday experience.

Great book. Very chalenging

This collection of essays from C. S. Lewis is less well known or talked about. I personally had not heard of it until I stumbled upon it on Amazon. C. S. Lewis truly has a gift. We should value that he was not a theologian by training, so that he could examine, understand, challenge the bible text and Christian doctrines from a very different angle, which in turn offers a fresh perspective to everything he applied his mind to. He was very honest in his writing and was not shy in documenting his struggle, which is very helpful to all of us and hopefully we may learn from his skills, if we read enough of his work, to first ask insightful questions and then find answers to them in our faith. Therefore it is not just the conclusions that matter, but how he arrived at those conclusions is equally informative and helpful. When we read C. S. Lewis, one cannot help but see a great mind. Yet this brilliant mind was brought submissive to our Lord - there is an incredibly beautiful relationship. It's another example that faith is not blind; it can withstand the vigorous exercise of a highly critical and brilliant mind, which serves to show the truth in more dazzling light. I had no idea what to expect with this book. The title and the preface give little away. Yet it approaches Psalms in a way that I have never come across before. Often we see commentaries on individual Psalms, but C. S. Lewis takes us on overriding themes emerge from reading all the Psalms collectively. It therefore covers some observations which are very fundamental that should underpin our understanding and appreciation of Psalms. It talks about Psalms being poems, and the pattern means something. It sets the Psalmists in the historical context, bringing in a wider cultural context of the time for us to understand better the thinking and feeling and perception of the Psalmists. In that C. S. Lewis had unique insights from his professional training. Therefore he saw things modern people would not ordinarily see and asked questions that we don't ordinarily ask. Finally, he discussed about "the second meaning", exploring if it is legitimate to impose second meaning to the Psalms in hindsight, and claim that they are prophetic, when the Psalmists could not have any idea of it when they were writing the Psalms. Up to that point, I had been reading commentaries on Psalms that applied second meaning without ever asking if this was legitimate! It shows how passive I am in my bible study! I therefore appreciate a lot what C. S. Lewis has shared with us in this book. In terms of content, this book should have been scored five stars. However it is true that this is a very bad edition with uncountable typos and some systematic misprints on the bible references. It is rather frustrating that I can't go to look up the Psalms he was talking about. The typos do not affect understanding for most parts but towards the end, they seem to interfere in some places - I can't be sure without seeing what the text should have been. Also I wonder if the book is complete as the essays refer to the Appendix which is not included in this version of the book. Some previous reviews score the book badly, saying how awful this amateur version is. But for a price of under £4, you could say it is still a bargain to gain what one could gain from reading it. It is not that it has no better versions, but they are rather pricey!! It would have been excellent value if it were proof-read, but I will see this as a case of we paying for what we get.

Very pleased.

Excellent

The book itself is great but unfortunately the paperback sold by Amazon is also printed by them -- and badly. There are many typographical errors, weird spacing, spelling corrections which introduce nonsense words and some sentences which do not make sense. I encourage you to get the book but not as printed by Amazon themselves in this version. Should only be one star but since the content is five stars I don't want to hurt the overall rating.

Wonderful book, Amazon should be publicly censored for the mess they have made of it and should a) refund every penny they have taken for the copies they have printed and then b) give a £10 apology gift to every purchaser for the distress they have caused by making such a mess of it. Buy an original version. Do NOT buy this version.

very insightful man, good book, great thinker. Not mainstream evangelical text understanding (at least for the old testament but nonetheless highly readable and worth thinking about.

Layout is not properly formated. The last sentence of every page is superscripted and merged with the page number.

A very good book and a good read.

Reflections on the Psalms is een geweldig werk van C.S. Lewis dat ik op papier al meerdere malen heb gelezen. Helaas is er geen enkele aandacht aan de elektronische versie besteed zodat het eigenlijk totaal onleesbaar is op de Kindle. Elk apostrof en alle aanhalingstekens worden €$% en dergelijke. Dit boek staat vol met citaten (uit de psalmen) die allemaal omgeven zijn door willekeurige tekens. Een aanfluiting.

Lamentável ter um texto tão maravilhoso em uma encadernação tão mal feita.