Over the centuries, perhaps no volume of poetry has claimed the devotion of so many people across the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and also inspired the creation of artistic ...

Editor’s note: This article was first published in the Aug. 2, 1997, issue of America, titled “Praying the Psalms: Some Notes.” For some years I have been keeping rather extensive reading notebooks.

The psalms have long been a mainstay of Christian liturgical singing. While these songs of the Hebrew Bible first expressed the relationship of Israel to the God of salvation, Christians have heard in ...