In a penetrating analysis, Broyles breaks open the category of the psalms of 'lament', arguing that this conventional grouping encloses two quite different kinds of psalms. Not only are there the psalms of 'plea', which affirm the praise of God and belong theologically on the side of faith, but there are a darker group, the psalms of 'protest' or 'complaint', which depict God as absent or hostile. These psalms portray the conflict between the traditions of faith and the religious experience of the psalmist. The study, a revision of the author's Sheffield PhD thesis, thus proposes a realignment of the form-critical categories in the Psalms, and at the same time engages with a much neglected element in Hebrew piety, the charge against God.

Stephen J. Smith enters the lively field of editorial-criticism of the Hebrew Psalter or Psalterexegese with this detailed investigation into the final form of Psalms 73-83. In the book, he engages scholarly disagreements over this collection's structure, the degree and nature of its literary unity, and the primary theological message(s) it communicates. Smith argues that the sequence of Psalms 73–82 - and possibly 83 – has a deliberate design that reflects a sustained focus on addressing, and resolving, a multidimensional collision between “faith” (i.e., core Israelite beliefs about God) and “experience” (i.e., the individual/community's lived experience of God) that was precipitated by God's prolonged absence in the Temple's destruction (c. 586/587 BCE). Parting ways with previous scholarship, Smith contends that a recursive organizing principle rooted in biblical parallelism structures the collection. Over the book's nine chapters, he makes the case that the editor(s) grouped its psalms into two major blocks (74-78; 79-82) of two sub-groupings each (74-76, 77-78; 79/82, 80-81) in order to develop a single topic in multiple dimensions: the severe threat that God's prolonged absence in the temple's destruction posed to the ongoing viability of various core Israelite beliefs about God, most fundamentally God's goodness. Smith makes the case that the collection is shaped to resolve this crisis by bolstering the reader's confidence in, and commitment to, these beliefs in the face of their apparent failure.

Walter Brueggemann's unique gift of joining historical-exegetical insights to penetrating observations about the traumas and joys of contemporary life?both personal and social?is here forcefully displayed. Everyone who is familiar with his work knows the power of his speech about "doxological, polemical, political, subversive, evangelical faith: and about the ways such faith is enacted in the praise of ancient Israel and in the church.Readers of this book will find fresh insight into:the Psalms as prayer and praisethe categories of the Psalmsthe social context in which psalms were prayed and sungthe theology of the Psalmsthe dialogical character of the Psalmsjustice and injustice in the Psalmsthe study and "use" of the Psalms by the churchpraise as an act of basic trust and abandonmentthe impossible wonders of God's activity that overturn conventional ways of

"Stephen J. Smith enters the lively discussion of canonical or editorial-criticism of the Hebrew Psalter with this detailed investigation into one of its constituent collections, Psalms 73-83. In the book, he addresses scholarly disagreement over this collection's structure, the degree and nature of its literary unity, and its primary message. Smith argues that Psalms 73-82 - and possibly 83 - are deliberately arranged to resolve the disorienting collision between Israel's faith, traditional theology, and the experience of God's prolonged absence amid the sixth century exilic crisis. Smith contends that the collection is structured by a recursive, rather than linear, organizing principle. Over the book's nine chapters, he makes the case that the collection's editor(s) grouped its psalms into two major blocks (74-78; 79-82), composed of two sub-groupings each (74-76, 77-78; 79/82, 80-81), in order to develop a single topic in multiple dimensions: the severe threat that God's prolonged absence in the temple's destruction posed to Israel's traditional theology, and ultimately God's goodness. The collection has been shaped to resolve this crisis by encouraging resolute commitment to Israel's theology, most fundamentally God's goodness, in the face of its apparent failure.".

Editors David Firth and Philip Johnston help academic readers understand current approaches and issues in study of the Psalms, while also giving them a deeper appreciation for these poetic texts.