Review of Reflections on the Psalms by C. S. Lewis

The message of C. S. Lewis's Reflections on the Psalms is very meditative and contemplative. The purpose of the following paper is to attempt to describe the work in regard to its characteristics. Overall, a summary of the message, strengths and weaknesses, how the work fits into other literature, and the audience of the work will all be discussed in an attempt to try to unveil the purpose for the writing of Lewis despite its characteristics of being both meditative and seemingly disjointed.

Summary of Message and Content
Lewis writes the following about the message of his work on his commentary on the book of Psalms, "...this book has been what the old woman in Scott described as 'a cauld clatter o' morality'". (Lewis, 44) In other words Lewis summarizes his own work by pointing out that it is morality based and somewhat unfocused. Structure however does exist in the work of Lewis as it can be divided among a few themes.

The first theme of Lewis is to explain the literary forms of the poetry in Psalms. The second theme of Lewis is to critique the views of the authors of Psalms as he writes, "Of all created beings the wickedest is one who originally stood in the immediate presence of God." (Lewis, 32) The third theme of the writing of Lewis is to compare and contrast the Jews with competing cultures that had different gods. The forth theme of Lewis is to read the Psalms allegorically as he draws out New Testament parallel and moral content.

The content of Lewis is much different than that of most theologians. For example Lewis adds theological views to even the death of Socrates. (see Lewis, 105) Not only that but Lewis also puts himself in the rare category of giving respect to both Catholics and Protestants, and he thus says the following, "One can respect, and at moments envy, both the Fundamentalist's view of the Bible and the Roman Catholic's view of the Church." (Lewis, 112) The message of Lewis is very rooted in explaining how the ancient Jews saw things in their time and how times have changed and Christian views should be both better and much more different. The main theme that comes out of Lewis is a Christian message that has the appearance of attempting to break down barriers between people while focusing on meditation on scripture without coming to any strong theological conclusions.

How the Work of C.S. Lewis Fits into Other Similar Literature
Both Martin Luther and John Calvin wrote commentaries on the book of Psalms, but they both did so from an early reformed perspective. The reformed perspective could be so powerful in describing the sovereignty of God that many would argue that personal freedom and relationship to God became miniscule in many ways. Lewis is much different in that he approaches Psalms from a very relational perspective, as his view would involve how a person would relate to God.

Much of what reformed thinking involved is the covenant nature of Christianity, and this would have revolved around communion and its historic roots in Judaism temple worship. Although Lewis does not announce his animosity regarding reformed thinking in a very direct manner, he nevertheless makes his feelings clear about reformed thinking. Lewis says the following, "Every temple in the world, the elegant Parthenon at Athens and the holy Temple at Jerusalem, was a sacred slaughterhouse. (Even the Jews seem to shrink from a return to this. They have not rebuilt the Temple nor revived the sacrifices.)... Judaism without the Temple was mutilated, deprived of its central operation; any church, barn, sick-room, or field can be the Christian's temple." (Lewis, 44-45) Lewis is clearly demonstrating his views about sacrificial covenant based theology without specifically calling out reformed thinking by name.

The early reformers would have worked diligently to try to stay in covenant relations to God. Lewis goes far deeper than just being in content with God, being in the midst of God, and believing in Christ while trying to diligently stay in covenant. For Lewis his work involves meditation on attitudes and perceptions that would have driven the writing of the scripture.

The Audience of the Work of C.S. Lewis
Lewis makes very clear exactly what his audience is in his commentary on the Psalms. Lewis thus writes the following in regard to his audience, "I am nowhere trying to convince unbelievers that Christianity is true. I address those who already believe it, or those who are ready, while reading, to 'suspend their disbelief'. A man can't be always defending the truth; there must be a time to feed on it. I have written, too, as a member of the Church of England, but I have avoided controversial questions as much as possible. At one point I had to explain how I differed on a certain matter both from Roman Catholics and from Fundamentalists: I hope I shall not for this forfeit the goodwill or the prayers of either." (Lewis, 7) Lewis is clear that he is approaching an audience of people that are not opposed to belief in Christ, and he is trying to strengthen the belief of believers by his work. Lewis however is diligent to address Christians regardless of denominational barriers as he has expressed a background in the Church of England.

What can be gathered from the audience of Lewis is that his audience contains people that may have had a long tradition in theological views that are very narrowed and exclusive. The people that contain the audience of Lewis would be people that are looking for answers to the question of how to relate to God from a practical approach that explains God in terms that people can easily relate to. Overall, the point is that many of the people that would have composed the audience of Lewis would have been looking for a change away from the 'cold' theology of the mainstream churches.

Lewis addresses his audience in such a way as to give cases for how to view theology. Many other theologians would instead make cases for exactly what a person is to believe. Lewis thus has an audience of people that meditate or think freely upon scripture, and such an audience would differ greatly from the norm because they would be willing to explore new ways of looking at God.

Strengths and Weaknesses
Lewis is very strong at giving a general view of how the authors of Psalms would have seen things, but he is very week at providing sound theology that would govern worshipers. Throughout history Psalms have been used to attempt to govern interaction between both God and man, and this is the case because David (one of the Psalm authors) would have been marked as the ideal worshiper that all people should make themselves into. Overall, the strength of Psalms has often been the covenant and the sacrificial element associated with that covenant, but Lewis makes Psalms into something more reflective on morals, attitudes, and relationship.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lewis, C.S. Reflections on The Psalms. New York, New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc, 1958.