Christology & the Psalter
How “Inclusive Language” Emasculates the Psalms
by Patrick Henry Reardon
The lovely title of a recent book summarizes my simple thesis in the following reflections. It is called Psalter for the Christian People, a name suggesting that the Psalms have a necessary and important place in Christian thought and worship. Indeed, such has been the persuasion of the Church from the very beginning. The New Testament tells us to address one another with psalms (Ephesians 5:19), to teach and admonish one another with them (Colossians 3:16), and to sing them (James 5:13). After the Lord’s Ascension the believers turned immediately to the Book of Psalms for guidance. The Church’s first canonical act, choosing a replacement for Judas, was explicitly based on a text from the Book of Psalms (cf. Acts 1:20). Again, two psalms were quoted and interpreted in that first sermon on Pentecost Day (cf. Acts 2:25–35). The Psalter is the Old Testament book most frequently cited in the New Testament.
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Patrick Henry Reardon is pastor emeritus of All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church in Chicago, Illinois, and the author of numerous books, including, most recently, Out of Step with God: Orthodox Christian Reflections on the Book of Numbers (Ancient Faith Publishing, 2019).
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