Psalms: The Prayer Book Of The Bible Kindle Edition

much else has been said about content. What frustrated me is that this "88 page book" counts blank pages front and back, and is actually postcard sized. literally. Yes, the dimensions are in the description, but when you spend over $10 on a book, you expect a book. not only that, but the content starts on page 9, and the book ends on page 65, so you get at best 56 pages of Bonhoeffer; the 'brief' biographical sketch is actually 20 pages, or over a third of the Bonhoeffer content. If $10+ for a short postcard sized paperback sounds good to you, then great! I hope this review just helps you to make an informed decision, especially if money is a factor.

I found this very short book useful for 2 reasons:1. It provided a good overview of how to classify Psalms under particular topics. So those psalms that are about guilt, suffering, the church, the Law, etc. This is particularly useful when understanding how to use them when praying.2. It had a brief 20 page biographical sketch of Bonhoeffer's life that I appreciated. Reading more extensive bios on him has always been on my list but I haven't been able to get to it, so having this abridged version gave me some insights into the man.I've been using the Psalms in my daily prayer life for a little while now and this is a very useful accompaniment to better understanding how to use particular Psalms when praying.

Surprisingly brief, this little book has some excellent insights into the Psalms, and can help us pray even the difficult ones. Clearly Bonhoeffer prayed and struggled through the Psalms and used them to relate directly and personally with God for decades. It reads like a book written 80 years ago. The courage of Bonhoeffer, in Nazi Germany, to write a book about the very Jewish book of the Psalms, and calling the Jewish people "God's chosen people," got him banned from further publishing and eventually contributed to his imprisonment. It is well worth reading both for its insights and its author and place in the history of Nazi Germany.

Mr. Bonhoeffer gave new meaning to the Psalms and helps one focus on various Psalms for prayerful purposes. This is a slim book written by a victim of the Nazis in WWII. He offers explanations of the Psalms and how to use them in your daily life.

Bonhoeffer was very insightful. He made me look at the Psalms in a completely different way. I recommend this book to all Christians who want to go deeper in their walk with God

The publication of this book led Nazi Germany to forbid Dietrich Bonhoeffer to publish anything else. As was evidenced in their efforts first to control, and later to suppress, the Christian church in Germany, they felt threatened by the fact that Christians put Christ ahead of the Fuhrer.Those who read this book will quickly discover that Christ is all in all to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This is the attitude in which he teaches Christians pray the Psalms.I have always enjoyed singing the Psalms in worship, and I have experimented with praying the Psalms privately. I always hit a snag, however, when I came to assertions of personal righteousness or cries for God to exact specific, brutal vengeance on enemies. How can such words be part of Christian prayer? Dietrich Bonhoeffer leads the reader to discover exactly how rich and honest every word of each Psalm can be, prayed as the prayer of Christ himself.I fervently recommend this book to every Christian who wants to deepen his/her prayer life.

This is a very small book. It is too small to be a commentary on the Psalms. It is also too small to provide an adequate introduction to the Psalms.Nevertheless, I think it sufficiently accomplishes its purpose. It helps us to begin praying with the Psalms. Prudence must be exercised here because no book can actually teach us how to do this. We learn in the doing. The book does give us good reason for beginning to do this. It gives the reader insights into the reality of what is actually happening when we do this, for instance, "The Christian will find scarcely any difficulty in the praying of these Psalms. However, the question could arise as to how one is to think about the fact that Christ also prays these Psalms with us."The Master, Bonhoeffer also gives us situations wherein we can find prayerful help in praying the Psalms. The following are a sampling:SUFFERING: The Psalter gives us ample instruction in how to come before God in a proper way, bearing the frequent suffering which this world brings upon us.... They do not deny it or try to deceive us about it with pious words.... Because it happens with God's will, indeed because God knows it completely and knows it better than we ourselves, only God can help."GUILT: "There is such a thing as the confident leaving behind of sin for the sake of Jesus Christ."THE END: "... the Psalms request fellowship with God in earthly life, but they know that this fellowship is not completed in earthly life but continues beyond it, even stands in opposition to it."In these situations, Bonhoeffer points us to the Psalms most useful to us, for instance the Psalms of Lamentation.It's a very small book worth the read.

This is not to criticize Dietrich Bonhoeffer who is quite rightly a legend, but I was a little disappointed. The man himself was amazing. This booklet, for that's what it is, is the briefest of summaries of the Psalms. There is almost nothing really about individual psalms, just a grouping of many psalms under a number of generic headings, with generic comments.If you want an annotated list, this is fine; it's not expensive after all. But if you're looking for more comment or analysis, this may disappoint. I'm glad I read it, but it didn't add much to what I knew.

Bonhoeffer argues that following a schedule from a prayer book, independent of the fallibly perceived needs of the person praying, is not only a useful training ground for improvisatory prayer, but also a worthwhile activity in its own right. He further argues that the Psalms can be used as an excellent prayer book.To do this, he interprets the person praying as praying in the company of Jesus Christ, with the protestations of innocence and suffering the innocence and suffering of Christ, and the vengeance the just vengeance of God, to be satisfied by the sacrifice of Christ.Bonhoeffer later recommends morning prayer, to start the day off as it should go on. In general he regards prayer as acting largely on the person praying: "For this reason he gives us earthly prayers, so that we can better recognise him, praise him, and love him."Only 70% of this short book is Bonhoeffer: the other 30% is a short biography of him similar to others that I have seen. However, this short 70% is in a very clear and readable translation, and carries such a striking and at least self-consistent message that it is difficult to feel short-changed. You even get some interesting asides, such as a remark on the suitability of Hebrew parallelism for antiphony.Ultimately this book stands or falls by how the reader reacts to close inspection of the Psalms. As Bonhoeffer remarks, the Psalms have, historically, often featured very strongly in Christian worship (e.g. the month long schedules for morning and evening worship in the traditional Book of Common Prayer), so if the reader struggles with them, they will at least be in good company.

Deals with aspects of the psalms often glossed over by relating them to the new testament and Jesus reactions to the circumstances encountered in his life.

Gave me real understanding and direction when approaching the psalms.I had often found the psalms difficult to understand and interpret, this book was a real help

A very interesting book a worth reading and re-reading until you get the understanding in your heart