The Psalms and Spiritual Formation
By The Rev. Travis Bott, Ph.D.
I once attended a lecture on the Psalms at a large church. Though an excellent exposition of the themes and spirituality contained within the Psalms, the lecture did not address how Christians today might appropriate the Psalms in their own lives. During the question time afterward, a woman on the other side of the audience asked, “I’m convinced of the importance of the Psalms, but how should I use them in my own spiritual life? Do you know of anything that provides a pattern for daily, monthly, and yearly use of the Psalms?” The speaker responded, “No, I’m sorry. I’m not aware of any resource like the one you’re describing. You just have to do your best to read the Psalms.” The woman was disappointed with the speaker’s answer—and so was I. In retrospect, I wish that I could have recommended to her the works of two bishops in the Church: St. Athanasius and Thomas Cranmer. Athanasius’s Letter to Marcellinus is the first Christian instructional manual on the spiritual use of the Psalms (1), and Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer supplies a pattern for regularly praying the Psalter (i.e., the Book of Psalms as a whole). (2)
St. Athanasius (ca. AD 295–373) was the archbishop of Alexandria in Egypt during the fourth century. He wrote to Marcellinus because he had heard that Marcellinus was devoting himself to the study of the Psalms during a period of illness. The result is a 33-chapter how-to guide on reading the Psalms spiritually. In the introduction (ch. 1), Athanasius explains that his approach to the Psalms is not unique to him; rather, he learned it from an old, wise mentor. What he has learned he is now passing on to Marcellinus. In other words, he pictures the spiritual reading of the Psalms as a living tradition that passes from teacher to student, and he probably assumed that his letter would be read to others for their instruction as well.
Athanasius develops four metaphors for reading the Psalms. These metaphors beautifully describe four different uses of the Psalms for spiritual formation. First, Athanasius pictures the Psalter as a garden containing an orderly arrangement of plants from many different parts of the world (ch. 2). The Psalter is a garden of Holy Scripture. It has connections with the entire history of God’s activity with Israel in the Old Testament, and it also looks ahead to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament. I call this the narrative use of the Psalms. If we are attentive to the textual relationships of the Psalms, we are drawn into the larger story of Scripture. Second, Athanasius likens the Psalter to a mirror that shows us our true appearance (ch. 12). I call this the expressive use. The Psalms help us discover and express the deepest feelings of our hearts in the midst of the varied experiences of the life of faith. Third, Athanasius compares the Psalter to a teacher who instructs students in how to speak and behave in various situations (ch. 14). He uses the example of a servant who must learn to behave properly in the presence of a king so as not to be expelled from the court. I call this the formative use. Not only do the Psalms give us words to express our feelings; the words they give us also shape our feelings and character. Fourth, Athanasius describes the person who sings the Psalms as a stringed instrument that is plucked by the Holy Spirit (ch. 28). I call this the participative use. When I sing the Psalms, I am not singing alone. The Holy Spirit makes music through me, and I join a symphony of all the people of God who sing the Psalms through time and space.
During the Middle Ages, monks and nuns recited the entire Psalter once a week. As a result, many of them had the entire Psalter memorized, yet most of the common people were unfamiliar with the Psalms. If they heard the Psalms at all, they would hear them in Latin rather than in English. During the English Reformation in the sixteenth century, the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer (AD 1489–1556) wanted to expose the Church in England to the Bible in English. Cranmer created a lectionary (i.e., a Scripture-reading plan) for the first Book of Common Prayer (1549) that would expose the people to the entire Bible over the course of a year. Like Athanasius, Cranmer recognized the special place of the Psalms in the worship of the Church. Thus, the prayer book provides a plan for reading the entire Psalter once a month during times of morning and evening prayer. More recent prayer books include other schedules for recitation in addition to Cranmer’s plan. (3) These patterns allow us to use all of the Psalms regularly in the Church’s corporate prayer to God, which is the first and best context for spiritual formation.
This approach to the Psalms is not new nor innovative; it is old and faithful. I missed the chance to speak to the woman after the lecture, but I do have this opportunity to address you. What I have learned from St. Athanasius and Thomas Cranmer I now pass on to you. As you read and pray the Psalms regularly, may God draw you ever deeper into the story of the Holy Scriptures, give you words to express your thoughts and feelings, form your character in virtue, and unite you with the communion of saints who sing these songs in heaven and on earth.
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(1) Athanasius, The Life of Antony and the Letter to Marcellinus, trans. and intro. Robert C. Gregg, Classics of Western Spirituality (New York: Paulist Press, 1980), 101–129.
(2) Brian Cummings, ed., The Book of Common Prayer: The Texts of 1549, 1559, and 1662 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 217, 465–611.
(3) For example, see the seven-week cycle in the 1979 American prayer book: The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Publishing, 2007), 934–1001.