Theological Introduction to the Psalms

McCann Jr., J. Clinton. A Theological Introduction to the Book of Psalms. Nashville: Abingdon, 1993.

This is an excellent introduction to the Psalms as a book for today. McCann wrote this book in order to “assist readers to hear the book of Psalms itself” (9). While mentioning critical views and questions about Psalms, he spends the majority of his time determining how the Psalms are relevant for us today.

The book is easy to read, which makes sense since it written by a professor with extensive pastoral experience. It is also fairly short, making it a relatively quick read (I actually read the entire book on a plane ride from Chicago to Seattle). The chapters are filled with illustrations and applications like a good sermon rather than an academic work. But this is no fluffy devotional work: McCann knows what he is talking about and presents solid insight into the Psalms. The intended audience seems to be a student, a pastor, or a lay person, although a scholar could derive much of value from this book as well. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the Psalms. Follow the link for a summary and critique of the book.

The book begins with an introduction defending his approach. He does not take the usual form-critical approach or even a rhetorical approach, but favors a theological approach. The Psalms are not simply the words of Israel to God, but they are also inspired words about God. He reminds his readers that his theological approach is nothing new, but is the traditional way Psalms has been read throughout church history until the modern period.

McCann divides the book into four sections, although the purposes of these sections I did not really understand. The chapter titles and divisions are much more sensible, though, and provided an excellent way to track the train of thought in the book.

The first chapter begins with the beginning of the Psalms, a place which McCann says must be the entrance to study of the Psalms (contrary to some introductions, which bury Psalm 1 in the category of last-discussed category of wisdom psalm). The Psalms should be understood according to the lens of Torah: “the Psalter is to be read and heard as God’s instruction to the faithful” (27). Psalm 19 is a unity, since just as all the world is witness to the power of God through creation, so also the Torah has far-reaching impact (28). Psalm 119 enforces the point that Torah applies to everything (32). The happy of Psalm 1 are not those without troubles, but those who have a solid foundation (34-36). The wicked do not depend on God and reject his instruction (38).

The second chapter addresses the reign of God, based on Psalm 2. It occupies an important role in the Psalms and gives the essential content of the instruction of the Psalms: the Lord reigns (41)! The royal psalms indicate the sovereignty of God rather than the Davidic monarchy (43). McCann shows his canonical hermeneutic in this instance: Psalm 2 (at the beginning of Book 1) and Psalm 72 (at the end of Book 2) speak positively of the Davidic monarchy, while Psalm 89 (at the end of Book 3) speaks of the failure of the Davidic covenant. Books 4 and 5 are then the answer to the problem of the failure of the covenant: the Lord reigns (42-45). While I am sympathetic to much of canonical criticism, this hypothesis seems as ingenious as it is unlikely.

The majesty of God is the topic of chapter 3. The main claim in the chapter is that to live is to praise God, and to praise God is to live. Psalm 117, by alluding to Exodus 34:6, bases the reason for praising God in God’s own character (55-57). Psalm 8 shows the dominion humans have, but also shows that it is derivative from God’s own dominion (57-60).

The connection between praise and activity is the next topic (chapter 4). Psalm 24 explains to us that God does not want us to simply follow a set of rules, but to look at the world in a correct way: God reigns in this world. Since God reigns, then every decision we make is grounded in our trust in God. In contrast to the liberal Protestant tendency towards social justice and forgetting that God exists, Psalm 113 reminds us that all of our activity must be based on God’s reign in this world.

The laments are covered next in chapter 5. The decrease of use of the laments in the church has been to its own detriment, since laments recognize that the world is not as it should be. Laments demand that God not accept the status quo, but transform the world. Psalm 130 illustrates that God is present in the deep places, a truth which is dramatically exemplified in the crucifixion. Psalm 3, right after Psalm 2, shows that the Psalmist knows that the world is not as it should be and that prayer is a way of life. Psalm 13 teaches us to be honest in prayer, even when it sounds blasphemous. Psalm 88, the lament which has no bright spot at the end, is a helpful pastoral tool for dark times.

Chapter 6 discusses confession and sin. The repetition in Psalm 51 emphasizes that the human condition is totally influenced by sin, while the chapter as a whole is an evangelistic chapter to call sinners to God from their sins. The last two verses of Psalm 51 were added later to give the individualistic psalm a corporate dimension. Psalm 32 shows how the life of the righteous is not one of always doing what is right, but of being forgiven.

The difficult imprecatory psalms present a challenge to any Christian interpreter. The basic solution of McCann is to say that the psalmist is venting his anger by means of the imprecations and is hence not acting upon those imprecations. The problem with this understanding is that they are then asking empty prayers: they ask God for something, but they do not want it to actually happen (although they do really want it to happen deep down in their hearts). Psalm 109 teaches us that we are vengeful people as well as that vengeance belongs to God. A little liberation theology slips in as McCann states that God is fundamentally on the side of the poor (116). We can legitimately use imprecatory prayers on behalf of others when they are mistreated. Psalm 137 shows that grief and anger go together. Psalm 82 is like the imprecatory psalms, but is directed at the gods instead of human enemies.

McCann now turns from psalms directed to God to psalms about God. Chapter 8 is specifically about God’s presence with the psalmist. He provides helpful comments on Psalm 23, such as green pastures not indicating leisure but God supplying what we need: food. The end of the psalm indicates that the psalm is not to be read individually but in community. To say that God is our shepherd is to say that God is all we need. While Psalm 23 does not predict Jesus Christ, the life of Jesus brings many recollections of the psalm. Psalms 46 shows that even when the world falls apart, God is still present. A similar theme is seen in Psalm 73, which is at the center of the psalms canonically and theologically.

The next topic is God’s space and time (chapter 9). The descriptions about Zion in Psalm 48 are hyperbolic, but are statements of faith: Jerusalem has become the symbol of the reign of God. This is similar to the Christian account of the life of Jesus: the life of Jesus became the center point of all history. The reign of God has reshaped space and time. As in Psalm 122, to enter Jerusalem is to live eschatologically. Psalm 90 shows the reader that God’s time is not our time. McCann believes that Genesis 3 does not introduce death but alienation from God, which makes death problematic. Previously time introduces only trouble, but in God’s presence time is a gift.

The concluding chapter is a discussion of Jesus Christ and the psalms. In McCann’s view, the main truth of the Psalms is the same as that of Jesus: God reigns! While McCann does not think that the Psalms predict the life or death of Jesus, he does see many allusions to the psalms in the gospels. These allusions include Psalm 2 in the baptism of Jesus, Psalm 1 in the Beatitudes, and Psalm 118 in the Triumphal Entry. The Gospel writers used Psalms 22, 31, and 69 to shape their passion accounts: Jesus is the ideal sufferer. The afterlife in Psalm 22 is not referring to an actual afterlife, but is poetic hyperbole. Quoting Psalm 22 not only indicates faith in God, but also introduces eschatological overtones of the reign of God over the whole world.

An appendix on singing the psalms ends the book. McCann gives a brief history of how the psalms were sung through Jewish and church history. He then gives a variety of suggestions to help local churches use the Psalms in public worship, including giving a list of resources to consult.

The greatest contribution of this book is a theological understanding of the Psalms in their original context. Many will be unhappy with him for not dedicating more time to the questions scholars ask of the psalms, but I think that this book is much more helpful than many scholarly books on Psalms. This book will be very helpful to the preacher in particular, as they prepare to bring the Psalms to their people.

One detriment to the book is that McCann includes many long quotations from other authors which distracted me in my reading. These quotations were not that helpful to his argument and could have been either paraphrased or just deleted.

McCann brings up many social issues that are important to him, such as the depletion of the ozone layer, the threat of nuclear annihilation, and the extinction of endangered animals (59). He also despises wars which he considers unjust, such as the First Gulf War (94). While I think that McCann’s liberal Protestantism is reigned in to some degree by attention he pays to the work of God in the Psalms, he is still reading too much of his own social concerns into the text. On the other hand, this could also be my conservative evangelical background reading too many social concerns out of the text when they should be there.

One further critique is that McCann does not deal to any great length with how the Psalms relate to Jesus. He does state his view: the Psalms do not predict Jesus, but the life of Jesus has been modeled after the Psalms. But he does not defend this view or tell how he came to it, details which would be helpful to the reader. But then, perhaps those details are precisely the scholarly questions that he seeks to avoid.

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