I have made it one of my aims at this site to comment from time to time on good resources for preparing to preach on the Psalms. This past Sunday I preached on Psalm 2. I have preached this Psalms several times, so in going back over my notes I consulted Praying the Psalms in Christ by Laurence Kriegshauser (University of Notre Dame Press, 2009). Kriegshauser in a Benedictine monk, which means he is writing from long experience with praying the Psalms and that he and I will have some significant differences theologically.

On Psalm 2, this book is excellent. Kriegshauser properly notes that the “son” in view would originally have been the Davidic King who by virtue of his position held a unique status as “son” toward God. Then, he shows how Jesus fulfills this being the ultimate son of David and the unique Son of God. Here is an excerpt:

Kriegshauser also adeptly demonstrates that Mount Zion now refers to the Church. He writes, “The Son of God in our psalm is associated with a place: God’s mountain, Zion, the mountain on which Jerusalem and the Temple were built. God’s rule radiates from this place. His King rules from the very place where God dwells among men. For Christians this place is the Body of Christ, the earthly members of which form his Church” (16).

This proper theological interpretation is crucial for applying the Psalms well today, and I found the clarity and forthrightness of Kriegshauser refreshing.