Used with permission. In partnership with Crossway.
Author
Bruce K. Waltke (ThD, Dallas Theological Seminary; PhD, Harvard University) is Professor Emeritus of Old Testament Studies at Regent College and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Knox Theological Seminary. He is the author of An Old Testament Theology and commentaries on Genesis, Micah, and Proverbs. Bruce is a member at Advent Anglican Church in Woodinville, Washington.
Written over the course of 1,000 years, the book of Psalms is a collection of religious poetry voicing a wide variety of human emotions expressed in different genres—imprecatory psalms, psalms of praise, and more. It has become one of the most popular books of the Bible, but most readers have only a surface level understanding of the Psalms and how it fits into the larger historical and scriptural context.
In 'How to Read and Understand the Psalms', Bruce K. Waltke and Fred G. Zaspel give readers tools to learn how to properly interpret and internalize the Psalms. Developed primarily from decades of lectures by Waltke, they explain the various types of psalms, Hebrew poetry, rhetorical techniques, and more. Armed with these tools, believers will discover how the 150 psalms can further fuel their knowledge and love of God.
Additional Resources
1. Apollos Watered Podcast: 'How to Read and Understand the Psalm with Dr. Bruce Waltke' In this captivating episode, Bruce Waltke sits down with host Travis Michael Fleming to share his profound love for the Old Testament and, in particular, his passion for the Psalms.
2. Book Review by The Gospel Coalition: 'How to Read and Understand the Psalms' How to Read and Understand the Psalms is essentially the content of Waltke’s lectures on the Psalms at BiblicalTraining.org written up by Zaspel (p. xvii), although there is a substantial amount of additional material (p. xviii). The book offers a broad introduction to the Psalms in chapters 1–2. Chapters 3–14 first engage in various aspects of studying the Psalms and then work through the prominent genres of psalms. The final chapter (ch. 15) addresses the most recent development in Psalms scholarship: canonical shape. It is the gleanings of Waltke’s teaching on the Psalms across his career presented by Zaspel. My expectations were high....
3. Discovering How to Pray: Prayer in the Psalms Timothy Keller preaches on the Psalms as the prayerbook of the Bible in this pre-conference message at TGC’s 2016 Women’s Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana.
