In his book Reflections on the Psalms, C. S. Lewis examines the book of Psalms – one of the most popular books in the Bible. He focuses on how the book portrays the Bible, God, and faith. Lewis explores Psalms’ poetic verses and their relevance to the reader’s everyday life. The book has 12 chapters, purposely written to provide amateurs with a better understanding of the book of Psalms. Lewis’s overarching argument is that the book of Psalms was originally written as a poetic book (Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, 2). Accordingly, the book should be read in a lyrical as opposed to a doctrinal or sermonised fashion. The Psalms should be sung as hymns to worship God. They should be read as poems so as to grasp the original message their authors’ intended to convey. For Lewis, the intention of his book is not to justify the truthfulness of Christianity – it is rather to make the reader of Psalms understand the true meaning of the Psalms (Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, 7). This paper provides a critique of the book.
The book is divided into two major sections. In the first section (chapters 1-9), Lewis examines the books of Psalms from the perspectives of readers and Jewish writers. The section specifically focuses on topics relating to judgment, hatred, death, cursings, nature, the beauty and sweetness of God, sins of the tongue, and why human beings praise God. In the second section (chapters 10-12), Lewis examines Psalms from the perspective of the Christian reader. He devotes this section to explain how Christians should read the book of Psalms. Lewis posits that the book has two interpretations, and that the second interpretation is totally unknown to the Psalmist. In the second section, Lewis also suggests that Pagan texts might convey the second meanings as well. As Lewis concludes the book, he argues that the...
Reflections on Psalms is just one of the several works he has authored. The book is thought-provoking, memorable, and interesting to read. It provides a new understanding of one of the most elusive books in the Bible – Psalms. More specifically, Lewis influences the reader to view the book of Psalms in light of its poetic beauty. An even more important strength is that Lewis strongly admires the book of Psalms. He acknowledges the influential character of the book, describing how the Psalms give him the same delight David had when dancing for God.
Nonetheless, a number of weaknesses are worth noting. First, Lewis starts his book with matters he views as the more distasteful or unpleasant – judgment, cursings, death, and so forth. Such a start denies his readers a chance to begin to enjoy his perspectives. Immediately after the introduction, Lewis embarks on the subject of judgment. Is it not quite strange that the subject of judgment preceded that of cursings? Lewis’s justifies his prioritisation of unattractive matters by asserting that Jews waited upon judgement day anxiously (Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, 8-10). For Lewis, Jews viewed judgment in a different way than contemporary Christians may.
Even so, Lewis’s idea makes the reader comprehend the book of Psalms from a different perspective. With this perspective, some texts become clearer, permitting the reader to understand why Jews anticipated the Day of Judgment with such enthusiasm. According to Lewis, the Christian perspective of judgment is better than the Jewish perspective, but this does not necessarily mean that…
