Psalmody
Thoughts on the Psalms and Other Matters Spiritual
- Prayer & Spiritual Formation
- Publisher: Resource Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2024
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Publisher's Description
Where is God in any situation? Well might the psalmist ask, as well we might in our own time. In penning a sonnet on each psalm, Toddy Hoare has sought to reduce each to a manageable size for a template for further spiritual reflection. The additional fifty-five sonnets setting out to do the same were sparked mostly by sitting in on Oxpeace seminars while in Oxford from 2007 to 2023. None are a substitute for the Psalms but a supplement to prompt thought and stimulate prayer. This collection is aimed at anyone interested in or using the Scriptures as well as those involved more professionally as priest, professor, pastor, and student. Psalmody sets out to assure with a taster those daunted by the Psalms, but inevitably attracted to them, that they can be understood, enjoyed and used for meditation and worship. The collection points to a format for further adaptation to the spiritual life as well as molding us as they did our Lord's life and ministry in their original form.
Endorsements (4)
“From decades of living close to farmers, and the clay he molds into sculptures, Toddy knows God’s creation intimately. Now he fashions the psalms into poems of direct, blunt, cries of longing which speak of God’s abiding presence in the chaos of our lives. Both as poetry and spirituality, the psalms speak here afresh as only his rich life could make possible.”
“How are the psalms able to capture the whole range of human spiritual experience, from frustration with life and anger at God to exuberant worship and awe at the creation revealed by science? Toddy Hoare provides answers not through prose analysis but through a stunning series of sonnets, one for each psalm and then some. Everyone who reads them—perhaps one-a-day—will be thereby enriched.”
“Toddy Hoare’s biblical sonnets are disciplined, direct, personal, punchy heart-to-heart conversations with God: ‘To study Your Word is my pleasure’ (119, ii). He reads the Psalms in Christ and marries Coverdale’s antique English with wordplays (42: ‘hart … heart’), varied rhyming keys and modern vernacular usage: ‘discombobulated’ (70), ‘stink-holes’ (69), ‘loan-sharks’ (109). So now, with Toddy, you could read the Psalter back to front—or travel through the Psalms at speed before reading them in full. What a joy this all is; what a joy the Psalms are; and what a joy God is!”
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