PSALMS
By Simon P. Stocks
Bible Reading Fellowship. 111 pages. £6.99
ISBN 978 0 857 467 317
This A6 booklet promises to be a Really Useful Guide: Psalms, offering key introductory information that ‘summarises the important aspects of the book to aid reading and application,’ and ‘giving confidence in the Bible’.
Regarding the first of these aims, the author provides much useful material that he explains well and earths via good illustrations: the psalms are both ‘tailor-made’ (written for specific circumstances) and ‘made for tailoring’ (readily applicable to contemporary contexts). The section on poetry is particularly helpful. One might, though, have expected more fulsome coverage of the structure of the Book of Psalms and of the range of literary genres, and one could also argue for more objectivity and rigour in the move from the biblical text to fulfilment in Christ and application to the Christian believer.
