The Psalms teach us how to pray. Many saints over the past three millennia have come near to God by praying the Psalms, and this volume introduces us to some of their greatest thoughts on them.
Covering all 150 psalms, this companion to the “Prayerbook of the Bible” contains key devotional readings from the Great Tradition as well as space for journaling our own prayers. This book will help us learn to pray as Jesus prayed—after all, He quoted from the Psalms more often than any other book.
Book Insights from Carmen Joy Imes
This book is part of the Sacred Roots Spiritual Classics series funded by a grant from the Lily Endowment. I’ve selected an excerpt on each of the Psalms by an early Christian writer. The volume features 24 different writers from the early centuries of the church, from Augustine to Gertrude the Great and from Aquinas to Katharina Schutz Zell. In most cases, I’ve updated the language for easier comprehension. My hope is that it will help Christians reengage the Psalms devotionally and grant them access to the riches of the historic church.
Editorial Reviews
What a delight to read the Psalms in the company of the righteous! In Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends, Carmen Imes invites us to put our roots down deeply into each of the 150 psalms, accompanied by old friends including Athanasius, Augustine, Luther and Calvin, and new friends such as Valerian of Cimiez, Dhuoda, Gertrude the Great, and Mary Sidney Herbert. The pithy and apt extracts from these scholars give extra insights for our daily meditation. I am looking forward to using this book!
Jill Firth, PhD, Lecturer in Old Testament and Hebrew, Ridley College (Melbourne)
For centuries, the Psalms have been the lifeblood of the church’s worship, witness, and soul care. In this volume, Imes invites readers to engage this life-giving book alongside their fathers and mothers in the faith, an important antidote to the modern temptation to look only at the latest ‘hot takes’ and interpretive trends—what C. S. Lewis called ‘chronological snobbery.’ The nuggets of wisdom here should direct readers to engage the world of early Christian theology further, where they will find faithful friends and wise guides on the road of discipleship.
Stephen T. Pardue, PhD, Associate Professor of Theology, International Graduate School of Leadership (Philippines), Asia Graduate School of Theology (Philippines)
It is a delight to recommend the Sacred Roots Spiritual Classics series and this wonderful prayer companion by Carmen Imes! This book will help you to re-hear the Psalms as you pray through them with the saints of old. It is a book to carry around with your Bible, to savor slowly with your morning coffee, as you learn from great Christian thinkers as well-known as Augustine and as little-known as Gertrude. It will touch your prayer life and calm your soul.
Donald M. Fairbairn, Jr., PhD, Robert E. Cooley Professor of Early Christianity, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
