Reflections on the Psalms

“I write for the unlearned about things in which I am unlearned myself.”

Lewis prefaces his book with a disclaimer about his lack of academic qualifications as a biblical scholar or theologian. The quote shows Lewis’s humility and establishes a confidential relationship to the reader, as well as signals the extent and limitations of his scholarship so as not to mislead readers.

“The fellow-pupil can help more than the master because he knows less. The difficulty we want him to explain is one he has recently met.”

Lewis goes on to justify his writing the book on the grounds that, as a nonspecialist, he is well placed to help ordinary readers with their problems in understanding the Psalms. Lewis implies that a sympathetic understanding of a reader’s difficulties with a text is often just as important as scholarly knowledge.

“Most emphatically the Psalms must be read as poems; as lyrics, with all the licences [sic] and all the formalities, the hyperboles, the emotional rather than logical connections, which are proper to lyric poetry.”

In one of the key underlying principles of the book, Lewis declares that the Psalms are poetry first and foremost and should be understood poetically. This emphasizes the theme of Metaphor and Imagery as Vehicles of Faith and will prevent interpretations of the Psalms that are overly literal or fail to take into account metaphorical meanings and literary conventions. The poetic focus aligns with Lewis’s own scholarly emphasis on literature as a source of moral values and spiritual meaning.