This text introduces the book of Psalms and provides an exposition of each psalm with attention to genre, liturgical connections, and societal issues.

This text introduces the book of Psalms and provides an exposition of each psalm with attention to genre, liturgical connections, societal issues, and the psalm's place in the book of Psalms as a whole. The treatments of the psalms feature a close look at particular issues raised by the text and the encounters between the world of the psalm and the world of contemporary readers. The exposition of each psalm provides a reader's guide to the text in conversation with relevant theological issues.

Walter Brueggemann, arguably America's leading Old Testament scholar and theologian, takes us on a wild ride through the poetic prophecy of the Hebrew Scripture, identifying cultural contexts, putting a framework to Israel's history, and, most significantly--and times challengingly --drawing connections between Israel's sociological, economic and spiritual status and that of America today.
What was the message of these remarkable poet-prophets in their own time and place? What is their message for us today? Who are today's prophetic voices? How has the contemporary church been coopted...

'Wise words ... filled with a message of hope for humanity and the world' - Irish Catholic Walter Brueggemann is beloved and respected by scholars, preachers and laity alike for his penetrating insights on Scripture and prophetic diagnoses of our culture. Both are woven throughout this new collection of his writings, A Gospel of Hope, which encourages readers to abandon what is safe and routine and instead embrace the audacity required to live out one's faith. This must-have volume gathers Brueggemann's wisdom on topics ranging from anxiety and abundance to partisanship and the role of...