Book Review: Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Psalms 1-50 ed. by C. Blaising and C. Hardin

Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Old Testament VII: Psalms 1-50 edited by Craig A. Blaising and Carmen S. Hardin

This commentary provides an overview of patristic thought on the first third of the Psalms. The book has the text of each psalm (the translation is the Revised Standard Version) followed by a synopsis of the comments from the ancient Fathers of the Church. After that is texts from the Fathers (usually a paragraph of commentary, see the sample texts below), with citations for further research. 

This book is valuable as a study guide for exploring the Psalms as the earliest Christians saw them. The Fathers range from the first disciples of the apostles down to Saint Augustine in the 400s. They have a lot of interesting insights intot the meaning of the psalms. The commentaries also provide a way to pray the psalms more deeply by extending the time a reader spends with each psalm, highlighting nuances that can be passed over with a quicker reading.

I found this very valuable and am looking forward to the next volume.

Highly recommended.

Some sample texts:

From the commentary on Psalm 29, by Basil the Great on false glory:

The cedar is at time praised by Scripture as a stable tree, free from decay, fragrant, and adequate for supplying shelter, but at times it is attacked as unfruitful and hard to bend, so that it offers a representation of impiety.

And from the commentary on Psalm 32, by Caesarius of Arles on confession:

God wants us to confess our sins, not because he himself cannot know them but because the devil longs to find something to charge us with before the tribunal of the eternal Judge and wants us to defend rather than to acknowledge our sins. Our God, on the contrary, because he is good and merciful, wants us to confess them in this world so we will not be confounded by them later on in the world to come.

And from the commentary on Psalm 42, by Augustine on seeing God:

"Where is your God?" If a pagan says this to me, I cannot retort, "What about you? Where is your God?" because the pagan can point to his god. He indicates some stone with his finger and says, "Look, there's my god! Where is yours?" If I laugh at the stone, and the pagan who pointed it out is embarrassed, he looks away from the stone toward the sky; then perhaps he points to the sun and says again, "Look, there's my god! Where is yours?" He has found something he can demonstrate to my bodily eyes. For me it is different, not because I have nothing to demonstrate but because he lacks the kind of eyes to which I could demonstrate it. He was able to point the sun out to my bodily eyes as his god, but how can I point out to any eyes he has the sun's Creator?

Book Review: A Joyful Noise by Mike Aquilina

A Joyful Noise: Praying the Psalms with the Early Church by Mike Aquilina

Aquilina changes up his usual devotional format in this book that explores the Psalms through the eyes of the Church Fathers. Each Psalm has a brief introductory comment, the Psalms itself, followed by a callout of a few lines from the Psalm that show a key insight. Then he has a commentary from one or two of the Church Fathers. The end has another callout with questions to reflect on, looking at ways to apply the messages in your own life. The book only covers thirty-five Psalms, to keep it a manageable length (just over 200 pages). The book ends with a bunch of biographies of the cited Church Fathers which have their own charm, life stories ever ancient and ever new.

I like the format Aquilina uses which is more robust than other devotionals. The presentation is a nice way to get more insight into some of the PsalmsIt also inspires the reader to explore the rest of the Psalter and of the Church Fathers too.

Highly recommended.

Book Review: A Year with the Angels by Mike Aquilina

A Year with the Angels: Daily Meditations with the Messengers of God by Mike Aquilina

Following the successful format of A Year with the Church Fathers, Aquilina offers daily meditations that center around angels. He uses the same structure: each page has a title with a brief explanation and then a longer citation from the Church Fathers (no medieval or modern stuff, so very much like the first book), followed by a reflection question and a prayer, both following on the theme of the text. Many of the reflections are about the presence and the help that the angels offer to us--they are aids and guardians in our earthly life. Other texts look to them as examples for good behavior, consistent effort, or hope for the glorious life in Heaven. This book has been helpful to remind me constantly of the presence and the power of angels.

The book has a nice leather cover, gold foil edges, and a ribbon attached to keep your place as you make progress. The paper is high quality and each right-hand page has an unobtrusive water mark in the corner of a statue of an angel. It looks good on your shelf and feels good in your hands. The book is a handsome volume.

Highly recommended.

Book Review: A Year with the Church Fathers by Mike Aquilina

 A Year with the Church Fathers: Patristic Wisdom for Daily Living by Mike Aquilina

This book sets a great template for devotional books. It's set up for reading in one year. Each of the 365 devotions is limited to one page in the book, so the volume is not bulky and each devotion is easily done in under ten minutes. Each page has a title, a quick explanation of the text by Aquilina, an excerpt from one of the Church Fathers, a question or two for meditating about the important theme of the excerpt, and a short prayer. 

The Church Fathers are the theologians (mostly bishops, but not all bishops) who lived during the first four hundred years of the Christianity. Saint Augustine is generally considered the last of the Church Fathers; he died in AD 430. Even though they all lived over 1500 years ago, their insights on human nature, human relationships, God's love, and God's mercy, are universal truths. Those insights are applicable to us today. Their wisdom touches the human heart. That's why their writings have survived so long.

I started out reading this one page each morning but did not maintain my discipline. Now that I've finished, it took me three and a half years but was well worth it. I will hunt around for more books like this.

Highly recommended.