Theology in Scotland 33, 1 (2026) on Theology and Mental Health

The latest issue of Theology in Scotland is devoted to theology and mental health. The articles are available as pdfs from here.

Editorial

Katie Cross

Theology and Mental Health

‘Together, the collection of articles, reflections, and creative work that makes up this issue of Theology in Scotland constitutes an important offering to wider discourse around theology and mental health, while being rooted in the particularities of Scottish experience.’

Articles

Cody Crawshaw

Scottish Nature, Anxiety and God: Connecting to the World Around us as a Benefit for our Mental Health

From mountain peaks to sandy beaches, we in Scotland are lucky to inhabit an area of such natural beauty. Spending time in nature, at the coast or in a local park, is recognised as a benefit for our mental health. Considering the experiences of Christians with mental health concerns, how might seeing nature as a connection with and self-manifestation of God, present in the natural world as we experience it, further these benefits? In my doctoral research into the lived experiences of Christian women experiencing anxiety, a recurring theme was the importance of connecting to nature, and so to God, during times of poor mental health. In this paper, the words of my research participants will be explored alongside an understanding of the presence of God expressed through the natural world, drawing from the fields of mental health and environmental theology. I will first discuss how participants understood God as present in the natural world around them. An exploration into how this connection between God and nature interacts with feelings of anxiety will then be undertaken, asking if God’s presence is calming or concerning. Finally, drawing together the conversation between anxiety, nature, and God, the possible anxiolytic effects of connecting to Scottish nature will be considered.

Margery E. Bray

From the Keening to the Chanter: Feminine Lineage in Scottish Lament

This paper explores the theological and cultural lineage between the women’s caoineadh (keening) traditions of pre-Reformation Scotland and the later development of the pìobaireachd lament. It argues that the suppression of keening by the seventeenth-century church silenced a feminine mode of communal grief-transformation, a function preserved in part through the bagpipe’s cumha repertoire. Restoring balance between masculine and feminine energies in ritual music, it suggests, may recover heart-resonance and communal healing. The article traces the displacement of communal lament into Gaelic song and pìobaireachd as continuing vessels for grief and transformation.

Anne Marie Foster

Trauma, Silence, and Survival: Bathsheba’s Story as a Theological Resource for Mental Health

The story of Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11–12 and 1 Kings 1–2 confronts readers with themes of sexual violence, grief, silence, and resilience. Traditional or hegemonic interpretations have often minimized Bathsheba’s experience, centring instead on David’s sin and repentance, thereby perpetuating a theological culture that marginalizes the voices of the traumatised. Such readings not only obscure the psychological realities of trauma but also risk reinforcing patterns of silencing that echo in contemporary contexts of mental health struggles. This article proposes a re-reading of Bathsheba’s narrative through feminist and womanist hermeneutics, drawing on the work of J. Cheryl Exum, Wilda C. Gafney, and Suzanne Scholz, among others. These approaches foreground Bathsheba’s perspective, reframing her story not as a tale of passive complicity but as one marked by coerced vulnerability, survival, and enduring presence within Israel’s royal history. This hermeneutical shift creates space for survivor-centred theological reflection, aligning the biblical text with contemporary insights from trauma studies and mental health discourse. By engaging the intersections of theology, psychology, and pastoral care, the study highlights how Bathsheba’s story can inform a richer understanding of lament, resilience, and healing. It argues that reclaiming silenced voices within scripture can foster theological practices that respond more compassionately to mental health crises today. In particular, it suggests that survivor-centred hermeneutics may serve as a resource for communities of faith seeking to support those navigating trauma, shame, and the long-term impact of abuse.

Jonathan Shamshad

Be Still and be Present: Psalm 46 and the Challenge of Super-modern Anxiety

This paper explores Psalm 46 as a theological response to the pervasive experience of anxiety in super-modern life. Drawing on Kirk A. Bingaman’s concept of ‘new anxiety’ and Marc Augé’s theory of super-modernity, this interpretation views contemporary restlessness as both a psychological and spiritual condition arising from over-stimulation, disconnection, and uncertainty. Against this backdrop, Psalm 46 offers an alternative vision of stability grounded in divine presence and trust. A close literary and theological reading of the psalm reveals a movement from chaos to calm: God as refuge in turmoil (vv. 1–3); God’s sustaining presence in the midst of instability (vv. 4–7); and God’s sovereign command to ‘be still’ (vv. 8–11). This stillness is not passive withdrawal but an active posture of faith – an invitation to re-centre the self in God’s unshakable reality. By reframing anxiety through the lens of divine presence, Psalm 46 offers a theological framework for resilience, stillness, and hope. It speaks to the intersection of theology and mental health by affirming that peace emerges not from control or certainty, but from communion with God. The psalm functions as both a pastoral and theological resource, offering individuals and faith communities a means to encounter healing, stability, and renewed presence amid the relentless pace of modern life.

Axolile N. M. Qina

A Cross-cultural Reading of Romans 12:1–2: A Theological Reflection on Mental Illnesses Incurred from my PhD Studies in Scotland

My PhD programme in Scotland started in 2019, after completing master’s degrees in South Africa and the USA. Here, I was almost immediately medically diagnosed with anxiety, then with dyslexia through the University Disability Office, and in 2021 I started medical treatment to help overcome Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression. The support I received from my medical practice, disability office, and university faculty allowed me to access learning adjustments, including additional time to complete my studies. Since I am a Xhosa Christian, I turned to the Bible for spiritual encouragement to help make sense of these mental health challenges. Such clarity was required because in my own South African Xhosa cultural background it is common to interpret instances of misfortune and illness as the result of a troubled spiritual dimension that can be rectified through propitiation. After a long cycle of therapy and counselling, in 2023 I meditated on Romans 12:1–2, which lead me to the questions: how can I ‘renew my mind’ spiritually to heal my mental illnesses, and how do I honour God as a ‘living sacrifice’ if my mind is struggling to hope? This paper provides a cross-cultural theological reflection on how I answered these questions and found meaning through a Xhosa Christian spirituality bound in community, prayer and Bible study. This meditation helped me to understand that it was ‘the will of God’ to continue my PhD journey, which I successfully completed and graduated in 2025.

Kate Bowen-Evans and Mark Bowen

A Conversation on Faith and Mental Health: Breath, Presence, and the Imago Dei

Arts and Culture

Christopher N. West

Michaelmas Fragments

Faith need not rest on literal or factual truth alone; there are emotional and psychological truths that speak more powerfully through poetic and creative form. “Michaelmas Fragments” weaves found poetry and narrative prose drawn from personal journals to explore the complex realities of being both a survivor of suicidal crisis and an Anglican priest, ordained on the Feast of St Michael and All Angels. Through evocative juxtapositions – sacrament and hunger, vocation and despair, hope and fruitfulness – the piece invites readers to encounter the tensions at the heart of faith and survival.

Review Essay

Alastair McIntosh

A Literary Reinstatement of Indigenous Gaelic Cosmology

Reviews

The Big Picture Magazine on Difficult Hope

The Big Picture is a new-ish magazine from the Kirby Laing Centre, which is already on its fourth issue.

This one is devoted to the topic of ‘Difficult Hope’, as Istine Rodseth Swart signals in the Editorial:

‘Pain and suffering get our attention. The problem of pain and suffering is high on the list of reasons why many reject God and if we are honest with ourselves, why being a Christian is not for the fainthearted. As believers we are not exempt from affliction, travail and catastrophe, but we have an additional challenge: How do we respond appropriately, biblically?’

More information is available here, and the issue can be downloaded as a double spread pdf here and a single scroll pdf here.

Online versions of the previous issues of the magazine are available from here.

Journal of the Evangelical Homiletics Society 22, 1 (March 2022)

The latest issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Homiletics Society has been posted online with the below articles (with the first few paragraphs of the pieces, or abstracts where available). The individual essays are available from here, and the issue as a whole is available as a pdf here.

Scott M. Gibson

Preaching Plus

There might be variations of homiletical math. In my teaching of Haddon Robinson’s philosophy of preaching I instruct my students that to get the idea of a passage one uses the following homiletical math formula: S + C = I. That is, subject question plus the complement answer equals the exegetical idea. But it strikes me that we can apply homiletical math to other areas of preaching. We could call this formula “preaching plus.” That is, preaching can be considered as an addition to a given area of study. For example, preaching plus history directs us to discover how and if preaching has had an impact in historical development in any culture or context. Preaching plus psychology may help us to discover how preaching intersects with the field of psychology. Further examples may come to your mind. But the point here is to help us to see that the intersection of preaching with other fields and situations or contexts is far-reaching.

Scott M. Gibson and Gregory K. Hollifield

Wanted: Catfish for Our Think Tank

What is needed are holy healthy places for thinking, interaction, and engagement without intellectual prejudice or divisiveness. We need think tanks more than we need labs. Our Evangelical Homiletics Society is not so much a lab as it is a think tank. A think tank consists of a body of experts who share ideas and advice to advance a chosen field of research and application. Unlike medical labs, think tanks are messy places. Not all ideas gain traction there. Advice can come off as criticism. Sacred cows get slaughtered. Presuppositions are called into question. Novelty is neither embraced for novelty’s sake nor rejected on the same grounds. Catfish swim freely in healthy think tanks. By their presence, resistance, and “convince me” attitudes, they keep their colleagues’ minds from growing soft and mushy.

Matthew D. Kim

Preaching to People in Pain

For this conference, Jesse Nelson asked me to speak about a new publication, Preaching to People in Pain. This book released in May of 2021 with Baker Academic. It’s a book that has long been on my heart as someone who has pastored people who are broken and hurting. How many of you have broken and hurting people in your churches today? I can assure you that all of us do. I remember pitching the book idea to Baker initially proposing the title of Pain-Full Preaching: Sharing Our Suffering in Sermons. For whatever reason, the marketing team relayed back that Pain-Full Preaching may not sell so why don’t we title it Preaching to People in Pain: How Suffering Can Shape Your Sermons and Connect with Your Congregation. Steve Norman is a pastor who has been writing thoughtfully about preaching. In his new book, The Preacher as Sermon, published by Preaching Today, he shares a mantra for his ministry which is this: “Never underestimate the pain in the room.” This evening I don’t want to underestimate your pain or the possible pains that you’ve been going through over the past two years or more. They’ve been a very difficult two years for many of us. Ministry has not looked the same for any of us.

Ken Langley

Preaching Hope and Lament from the Psalms

“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast with in me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan . . . Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me” (Psalm 42:5-7). Hope and lament. Usually, the order is reversed, as in Psalm 130: “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD,” verse 1. Verse 7: “O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.” Lament and hope. In psalm after psalm we find this pattern: the petitioner begins: “How many are my foes! How long will you hide your face from me? Why do you stand afar off? God, I don’t understand, I don’t like, and I’m not about to acquiesce to this current state of illness, distress, injustice, persecution, danger, loss. But—(so much Gospel in that little word!)—I trust you. I know you are faithful to your promises. I wait in hope for the LORD, he is my help and shield. I am confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Be strong and take heart all you who hope in the LORD. Lament and hope.

Ezekiel Ajibade

The Culture of Note-Taking and Effective Sermonic Technique

Sermon note-taking has long been practiced in various “church cultures,” and some may wonder about the future of the practice. Challenges to note-taking include secondary orality, the emergence of the digitoral generation, and the technologization of the world. This paper, engages with homiletics, systematic theology, communication studies, and discipleship studies to demonstrate the relevance of note-taking for enhancing listener engagement during the sermon. First, ,this paper will suggest a biblical and theological premise for note-taking. Second, it will investigate the relationship of note-taking to good listening and journaling. Third, it will describe methods of effective note-taking for both oral and digitoral sermon hearers. Fourth, it will discuss the criticism that note-taking is a distraction to the listeners. This paper will show that note-taking is still practiced by church-goers, and that while it should be encouraged, it should not be forced on worshippers in any way.

Jesse Nelson

Sermon: The Christian’s Hope

Book Reviews

Evangelical Review of Theology 45, 2 (May 2021)

The latest Evangelical Review of Theology, published by The World Evangelical Alliance, is now online and available in its entirety as a pdf here.

Introduction: Why We Need Theological Education

Thomas Schirrmacher

Sharing the DNA of Christianity

This article is excerpted and lightly edited from the message Thomas Schirrmacher delivered on his inauguration as Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance on 27 February 2021.

Manfred Waldemar Kohl

Re-Forma: Solving a Key Issue in Global Training of Pastors and Church Leaders

An estimated two million evangelical pastors and church leaders worldwide lack formal theological training. Even if seminaries and Bible institutes had the capacity to educate them, few would have the time or resources to engage in full-time study. This article presents the solution offered by Re-Forma, an initiative affiliated with the World Evangelical Alliance.

Richard E. Seed

Cognitive Contextualization in Theological Education: A Theoretical Framework

One inescapable reality of our connected and globalized world is the diversity and plurality of the human situation into which the Word of God speaks. This diversity arises from the living matrix within which each individual is nurtured and is evidenced in the learning and cognitive structures used to build understanding. This article investigates ways to deal with these realities and create cognitively contextualized theological education.

Perry Shaw

Moving from Critical to Constructive Thinking

The author, based on his 30 years of experience in cross-cultural education and on biblical interpretation, warns that an over-emphasis on critical thinking can foster sub-Christian understandings of such concepts as autonomy and tolerance. He proposes an approach more typical of collectivist societies, in which students balance their development of a critical voice with respect for accumulated community wisdom.

Walter Riggans

Can We Not Mourn with Those Who Mourn?

The book of Psalms is full of laments, but our church services today are overwhelmingly dominated by praise songs. Why the difference? This article examines the problem, calls for a song selection that opens its arms to the suffering, and offers some powerful, positive modern examples.

Hannes Wiher

Holistic Mission in Biblical and Theological Perspective

For the last 50 years, one of the most important discussions in global evangelicalism has concerned the idea of holistic mission, which proposes the integration of verbal evangelism and social engagement within Christian mission. This article, excerpted from a longer study to be published in the WEA World of Theology Series, examines how key terms such as ‘evangelism’ and ‘mission’ are understood in the Bible and in contemporary missiological debates. The author argues for a nuanced holism that recognizes the Bible’s overarching concern for our eternal destiny and its endorsement of a wide range of verbal and non-verbal ways to express that concern.

Daniel Kirkpatrick

Reconciling God’s Justice and His Sovereignty in the Process of Salvation: Towards a Mediating View Between Causative Faith and Reprobation

How can we consider God just if he has decided in advance that some people will not be saved? That is one of the foremost problems in apologetics. This article reviews the range of answers given in church history and proposes a solution.

Geoffrey Butler

Luther’s Peculiar Doctrine of the Imago Dei

Martin Luther believed that through Adam’s fall, humanity lost the image of God, which is restored only through justification by faith. That doctrine would imply that non-Christians do not have the image of God in them. This paper analyses Luther’s argument and proposes a mediating position: all humans retain the divine image, but only justification can restore the divine likeness.

On Learning to Lament

The below is an excerpt from an email written for the congregation where I am one of the pastors.

How could God allow that to happen? If God is good, why is there so much suffering in the world? Why doesn’t he just fix everything?

Perhaps you’ve been asked questions like those. Perhaps you’ve asked them yourself, possibly even over the last few weeks.

How we respond depends, at least in part, on whether the questions are being asked from the perspective of an ‘armchair’ or a ‘wheelchair’. In some cases, the issue of suffering is little more than an intellectual challenge to the existence of God, and is asked from the relative comfort of a conversation between friends or in a radio phone-in discussion. In other cases, the questions are heartfelt cries from those who are themselves in agony, broken, and completely bewildered with the misery of pain, evil, and injustice in a messed-up world.

The contrast between philosophical and personal engagements with suffering can be seen in the writings of C.S. Lewis. As a university don, he wrote a book called The Problem of Pain, in which he argues from a theological and philosophical perspective that human pain, animal pain, and hell are not sufficient reasons to reject belief in a loving and all-powerful God. But, as a devoted husband, he wrote a book called A Grief Observed, reflecting on his experience of bereavement following the death of his wife from cancer. Which book is more helpful? Which is more truthful? Which is more authentic? Both, at different times of life? Each in its own way?

It’s in the pain of bereavement that Lewis writes: ‘Meanwhile, where is God? ... Go to him when your need is desperate, when all other help is in vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence.’

Some of us might be able to relate to that. Certainly the psalmists could.

Would it surprise you to learn that laments are the largest category of prayers in the book of Psalms? Take a moment to reflect on that: what might it mean that the Holy Spirit has so overseen the writing of Scripture such that over a third of the Psalms bring a troubled situation to the Lord – not in a cold, detached way but from a place of deep agony? What does that say about our own expectations of the way things should go? How are such prayers to shape our own prayer life?

In every case, these psalms allow an honest response to God in prayer from the depths of the broken hearts of his hurting people, even to ask those challenging questions: Where are you, Lord? How long, Lord? They provide a way to pray through a period of crisis, grief, or despair. They give us the words to express our brokenness, our need, our longing for justice. Most importantly of all – and contrary to what we might think at first – they demonstrate trust in God, because they’re addressed to the only one who really does hold all things in his hands.

Bible Society on Easter and the Coronavirus

Bible Society released three short videos over the Easter weekend, fronted by their Chief Executive, Paul Williams (whose recently-published book, Exiles on Mission, I am currently enjoying reading).

The videos can be accessed at the links below:

Where is God in our pain?

This is a special message from Bible Society for those in the thick of it taking on the coronavirus crisis, whether in healthcare, as key workers or helping those who are suffering.

Is Coronavirus the end of the world?

Is coronavirus the end of the world? Or just the end of the world as we know it? What does the Bible have to say, and what other wisdom might it have for us as our lives are put on pause?

What if I didn’t have to fear death?

Is there anyone who doesn’t fear death? Apparently so. This Easter Sunday we explore why Christians take strength from the Easter story and how it can give us hope as we face the coronavirus crisis.

Echoes of Blessing #4: A Broken People

I contributed this week’s ‘Word for the Week’, a weekly email service provided by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

How long, LORD God Almighty,

will your anger smoulder

against the prayers of your people?

You have fed them with the bread of tears;

you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.

You have made us an object of derision to our neighbours,

and our enemies mock us.

Restore us, God Almighty;

make your face shine on us,

that we may be saved.

Psalm 80:4-7

The Psalms are a lifesaver for those of us who struggle with knowing what to pray. Because they give us a voice. Where we don’t always have the words, they give us the words.

The words in this particular psalm come from a place of brokenness. In case we’re in any doubt, the central prayer comes not once, not twice, but three times: ‘Restore us... make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved’ (80:3, 7, 19).

That refrain is deliberately reminiscent of the priestly blessing in Numbers 6, where Aaron and the priests affirm the sheer delight God takes in his own: ‘the LORD make his face shine on you.’ Except, the people felt they were no longer experiencing that promised blessing of the Lord.

They’d perhaps been feeling it for some time. ‘How long?’, they ask. That question is found in a number of psalms. Sometimes it’s because devastation has come at the hands of others and it’s a plea for God to step in. In this case, though, the people are painfully – and tearfully – aware of their own culpability, of God’s anger smouldering against them, of being mocked by others. Is it possible for God’s people to be derided by unbelievers because God himself brings it about? Apparently so.

Here is a cry of anguish from God’s people who are grieved by their own failure and distraught that God seems distant or even absent from them.

What do they pray? What do we pray? We return to the one we know to be faithful even when we’re not, to what we know to be fundamentally true about his promises to us, and to plead with him to step in and show his face: ‘Restore to us your special presence – your shining, smiling face that brings deliverance and blessing.’

So, what is it today that you would want to cry out to God for? For yourself? For the congregation to which you belong? For the church in our land? For your friends and neighbours? For your place of work? For our world? Take the words of the psalm and make them your own: ‘Restore us, God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.’

And as you do so, remember that some broken things are restored because they’re precious, because they’re loved. God remains, to this day, in the restoration business.

Psalm 80

I preached on Psalm 80 last Sunday. I won’t post my actual notes, but (inspired by the example of a friend and colleague) I thought I’d use the blog as a place to think out loud about what I did and was trying to do. I preach 2-3 times a month, sometimes more, and if I have the time and inclination I may every so often try to record here some summary reflections on my sermons.

Introduction

• With reference to Anne Lamott’s book, Help, Thanks, Wow, I began by talking about the value of the psalms in giving us a voice when we might not know how to pray. This led into describing Psalm 80 as a community ‘Help’ prayer and the significance of that as well as its general lack in our own repertoire of sung worship.

• I also drew attention to the repeated refrain in the Psalm, found first in verse 3 (‘Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved’), repeated in verses 7 and 19, effectively dividing the psalm into three natural sections, and offering a big clue to its main theme – Restore us!

• I mentioned that the words in the refrain are reminiscent of the priestly blessing from Numbers 6:24-26 (‘May the Lord make his face shine upon you’), except that the people of God felt they were not experiencing that promised blessing at this time.

Body

Taking into account the refrain, I looked at the psalm in three movements.

• 80:1-3 – Hear Us! (the heading is taken from the first words of the psalm – 80:1a). I drew attention to the requests, moving from ‘hear us’ (start of verse 1) to ‘save us’ (end of verse 2), and there being hope for this hearing and saving only because of who the Lord is – the shepherd of the flock (80:1a) and the enthroned king (80:1b-2). Not wanting to presume on knowledge, I spent a bit of time highlighting some of the biblical background of the image of the shepherd and the significance of the ark of the covenant.

• 80:4-7 – How Long? (again, the heading is taken from words in the psalm itself – 80:4a). I noted the number of times this question is asked in the Psalms. I also tried to emphasise the people’s sense here that they are suffering the seeming absence of God’s ‘face’ (signifying his blessing presence) due to God’s anger at their sin (80:4), leading to mourning (80:5) and mocking by others (80:6).

• 80:8-19 – Return to Us! (again, the heading is taken from the psalm itself, but midway through the section this time, in 80:14a). I went fairly quickly through the extended vine image, noting how it tells the story of Israel in picture language (80:8-13). To fill out the response to the question asked in verse 12 as to why God has overrun his vine, I read Isaiah 5:1-7 (where judgment comes because the vine produced only bad fruit), drawing attention again to elements of judgment in Psalm 80 (e.g., 80:4, 16), making the central request for God to return to the people (80:14) all the more dramatic. The recognition of God’s judgment doesn’t drive the people away from God, but towards him. The end of this section sees a number of references to a ‘son’ (80:15, 17). Not wanting people to jump too quickly to Jesus at this point, I tried to explain how the language of ‘sonship’ is used in the Old Testament for both Israel as a nation and the king. I sense I lost a few members of the congregation at this point (!), but ended by reinforcing the point that whether the ‘son’ is Israel or the king, it remains clear that renewal and restoration will come only from God (80:17-18).

Implications

• I didn’t reflect at all on the provenance of the psalm (commentators mostly suggest the evidence is equivocal anyway). In fact, I made the lack of specificity into a virtue, allowing us to think about the different contexts in which it might be applicable then and the different places it might apply today. I tried to offer a few possibilities ranging from the historical to the macro to the local and the personal.

• Using Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield and John Wesley as examples, I spoke about the times God has been gracious to restore and revive his dying people. I also spoke about the situation of persecuted Christians in Iraq and Syria at the moment (though I tried to be careful to say that devastation might come to God’s people not necessarily through his judgment, but through the destruction that others cause). I drew attention to bigger issues that cause anxiety and fear in the world today – war, brutality, ecological disaster, including a recent local tragedy. Then, whilst recognising the corporate nature of the psalm, I invited a response on a personal level too, asking people to reflect on the state of their own ‘vine’. For rhetorical emphasis, I concluded each example with a call to pray the words of verse 19 – ‘Restore us, O Lord God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.’

• Seeking to end on an upbeat note, I read from Isaiah 27:2-6 (the positive counterpoint to Isaiah 5), with its promise that God will protect his vine and that his people will bear fruit. I finished by speaking about Jesus as the Son, the king, the good shepherd, the true vine in whom we abide in order to bear fruit to the glory of God.

•••

• If I was to do this again, I’d probably try to get through the body of psalm itself more quickly in order to spend longer reflecting on its implications, possibly in interaction with the congregation.

• I’d try to be clearer and more helpful on the ‘son’ references!

• I think I struggled most with the ‘judgment’ angle in the psalm. This is not because I have a problem with God judging his people, but more with how we can know for sure in any given contemporary context whether his people are suffering due to his discipline or displeasure (how do we read the nature of God’s hand in particular situations?), and what that looks like anyway this side of the cross. This is why I felt the need to make the qualifications in the case of persecuted Christians in Iraq and Syria.

Andrew Williams on Biblical Lament and Political Protest

The latest Cambridge Paper from the Jubilee Centre is available online, this one by Denis Alexander:

Andrew Williams, ‘Biblical Lament and Political Protest’, Cambridge Papers 23, 1 (March 2014).

Here is the summary:

‘This paper considers the pastoral and political role of biblical lament in the Christian life. The theology and practice of lament is often neglected in congregations, despite its prominence in the biblical text. Such neglect deprives churches of a pastoral resource and moreover, as this paper highlights, diminishes the church’s capacity for prophetic critique and political activism in the face of social injustice. This paper argues lament is needed in corporate worship and prayer, not only to give spiritual expression to faith wrestling with pain, but also to re-energise communities of believers to name injustice, recognise political agency and sustain prophetic action.’

Brian D. Russell on Books on the Psalms

Brian D. Russell, ‘Reading the Psalter: A Bibliographic Review’, Catalyst 34, 1 (2007).

This is a short, helpful piece which reviews key resources (since about the mid-1980s) on the interpretation of the Psalms.

Russell notes that two main avenues for reading the Psalms have emerged over the last 20 years or so: (1) the shape of the final form of the Psalter as a whole, and (2) the function of lament psalms in the Psalter and in the life of the church.

In the first case, he refers to Gerald H. Wilson’s The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter (1985), which argues for an intentionality in the organisation of the Psalms such that it could be read in its final form as a book, and that the Psalter itself invites us to read it as such.

Books I-III of the Psalms (1-89) are dominated by laments, mostly grouped in terms of authors mentioned in the headings, and with royal psalms (e.g., 2, 72, 89) inserted at key places, pointing to the theme of the rise and failure of the Davidic monarchy.

Books IV-V (Psalms 90-150) serve as an answer for Israel in the plight of exile and loss of the monarchy with the reality of the Lord as the true king, and exhorting Israel to trust and obedience. The books are also dominated with the theme of God’s covenant love.

In the second case – the function of lament – Russell refers to the work of Walter Brueggemann and his organisation of the Psalms around three core types: psalms of orientation, psalms of disorientation, psalms of reorientation. The lament psalms represent the disorienting level in the faith of Israel, presenting a direct challenge ‘to the safe and predictable worldview envisioned in the psalms of orientation’ (e.g., Torah psalms, creation hymns, wisdom psalms), a disequilibrium which ‘resolves into a new world of deep faith articulated in the psalms of reorientation’ (e.g., thanksgiving psalms, royal psalms, songs of confidence, praise hymns).

Brueggemann has also written of ‘the costly loss of lament’, outlining the danger of ignoring lament in the church, and the general absence of lament from hymns and lectionary readings.

This is how Russell summarises it:

‘When the community of faith loses its ability to lament, it risks two profound losses theologically. First, the community loses the opportunity for a genuine covenant relationship with God. Apart from the opportunity for complaint and challenge present in lament, worshippers are reduced to “yes” men and women. Second, when the community of faith loses the will or capacity to lament, it stifles its own ability to struggle with the questions of God’s justice in the face of the injustices of life. In both cases, the psalms of lament model for the community of faith direct dialogue with God over questions of justice that are based on a genuine relationship between worshipper and God.’

Russell also mentions some introductions to the Psalter, some commentaries, and preaching and teaching guides.