Customer Reviews

Praise Seeking Understanding: Reading the Psalms with Augustine (Radical Traditions)

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I don't even know how this book came my way, but I started reading it while preparing for a talk on the Liturgy of the Hours, and boy, am I glad! It's a rather scholarly treatment of Augustine's approach to the interpretation of the psalms, something that has been of late more frequently the subject of ivory-tower snickering than of serious investigation. To tell you the truth, I am running out of those nice little Post-It tabs that I am so devoted to in marking parts I want to copy for myself or incorporate in one or another presentations. While contemporary scripture scholars focus on the historical-critical approach, seeking the historically "literal" meaning of the books of the Bible, Augustine makes use of allegory, imagination and above all, beauty, to move the hearts of his hearers. The ancient bishop was not writing for peer review: he was preparing homilies!
I recommend this book especially to priests and deacons, and any who pray the Liturgy of the Hours on a consistent basis. In some pages, it will be a hard slog (as Augustine himself can be), but I am confident you will find it well worth the effort!