We Have Heard, O Lord

The Book of Psalms includes some of the most impassioned language about God in the Old Testament. At the same time, the psalms as a collection constitute one of the most impassioned debates about the nature and activity of God on behalf of individuals, Israel, and the created order. In this learned yet accessible volume, Robert Foster offers the first major introduction to this debate about the person and work of God as it unfolds in the Book of Psalms. If God is the Just King, why does this King delay vindicating the oppressed and saving them from wicked oppressors? What happens when God turns in divine judgment against the people of Israel? Does God keep the promise God made to king of Zion and the covenant made with the people of Israel? Do the psalmists find God faithful and so worthy of the final commands in the Psalter to “Praise the LORD”? These powerful questions drive the debate within the Book of Psalms. By attending to the rhetoric of the psalmists’, Foster shows how the individual psalmists appeal to God in prayer and proclamation and how these contrasting voices give life to the Psalter and to its presentation of the living God.

Building on the work of genre analysis and canonical study, Robert Foster offers a welcome theological study of the book of Psalms, being single-minded about the character of God through the songs and prayers of Israel. Foster walks us through the five “books” of the Psalter and is able to identify distinct theological accents in each “book”. He finishes with a compelling summary of theological vocabulary (fully aware of the pluralism in the articulation of God), and offers fresh pedagogical guidelines for appropriation of the Psalter. This is a quite distinctive study that merits broad use., Robert Foster is dedicated to a canonical reading of the Psalter. Skipping individual headlines of the psalms he sets out with great care, deep enthusiasm, and wise oversight to rediscover the variety of faith-experiences and concepts of God in the five “books” of proclamation and petition. Indeed, theological diversity for the author himself and his readers is one of the great assets of studying the Psalter. Other highly recommendable features of Foster’s book are his illuminating references to Ancient Near Eastern backgrounds of or analogies to Hebrew belief and his musings about the enduring ethical depth of psalmic teachings., How astonishing that there aren't many books on God in the Psalms. I think it's because we are more interested in ourselves than in God, and the nature of the Psalms gives us the chance to focus on the people like us who might pray them. But how important to discover the God of the Psalms. Because it is, after all, God to whom people are responding in the Psalms, and God whom they are reaching out to. When I was asked to commend this book, I thought, 'Oh no, not another book on the Psalms.' But what a fine one this is, as it works through the Psalms and helps the reader to discover what is in them., Drawing upon the full array of scholarly perspectives and approaches, Robert Foster offers a new and fascinating reading of the Psalter. Referring regularly to the psalmist as “the preacher,” he interprets the Psalms in canonical order as an extended sermon that highlights the diverse ways that God is portrayed. His ultimate and much-needed goal is to invite and facilitate a theological and ethical appropriation of the Psalms, and he succeeds admirably., It’s the biggest question in “the little Bible.” Who is God? In search of the answer, Foster takes us on a theological walking tour through the five books of the Psalter. Along the way, we hear prayers and proclamations, affirmations and arguments. We hear the psalmists arguing with each other about God’s character, God’s action, God’s inaction. And of course, we hear the psalmists arguing with God. Ultimately, Foster wants us to hear how the theology of the Psalms can shape our own communities, teaching us how to pray and how to act. This volume is a welcome and important contribution to the ongoing conversation about the theology of the Psalms.

Robert L. Foster is lecturer in religion and New Testament at the University of Georgia.