Reflections on the Psalms

by C.S. Lewis

I found Reflections on the Psalms to be one of the most disappointing books I have ever read. Lewis has become one of my favorite writers and thinkers, and there’s always potential for great material in the Psalms, so I thought that this would be a “can’t miss.”

The book is not reflections on individual Psalms so much as it is on types of Psalms and themes within the Psalms. For example, some of the chapters include: “Judgment” in the Psalms, The Cursings, Death in the Psalms, Connivance, Nature, A Word about Praising. It is in the first two on that list (the first two chapters, as well) that my expectations were shattered. Lewis takes a view that these difficult passages in the Psalms are best to be explained as the improper feelings of self-righteous people, a strange view to have of an inspired text that endured as the national prayer book and songbook of God’s people for centuries, and became the most-quoted book in the New Testament.

Some of the other chapters seemed more like reflections on some themes found in the Psalms than reflections on the Psalms themselves, making me wonder why the book was titled as it was. Every now and then, I’d find him making a point that was profound or new (and not completely disagreeable), but after the beginning it was difficult to find the motivation to keep reading. I trudged through and finished the book, but can’t say that I have any intent of ever reading it again. Nor would I advise you to do so.