Ray Van Neste - Forgotten Songs: Reclaiming the Psalms for Christian Worship

Saint Augustine once called the Psalter the Old Testament in microcosm. All of the riches of the Scriptures filled in the mine of praise, prophecy, and poetry that is the Psalter. These riches, however, need to be brought to the light of day so they might adorn the life of the Christian. This powerful volume edited by Ray Van Neste and Richard Wells does just that. It brings the wealth of the Psalms to the life of the church: to be sung, read, and practiced. No doubt this is a volume that will be used in colleges and seminaries in courses on the Psalter.

Heath A. Thomas , associate professor of Old Testament and Hebrew
and director of PhD Studies, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

At a time when the psalms and most of the great hymns of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are largely neglected in modern congregational worship, this book is a much needed wake-up call. Wells and Van Neste have edited a collection of excellent essays that remind us of the prominent place the psalms have had for Christians from New Testament times onward. The authors urge us to consider once again the spiritual benefits of focusing on the psalms and give practical guidance for their recovery in church life.

Graeme Goldsworthy , visiting lecturer in Hermeneutics,
Moore Theological College, Sydney, Australia

This book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the psalms. Its authors bring together many perspectives but are united in their conviction that the rediscovery of the Psalter encourages the ancient practice of living in the psalms, the reclamation of canonical associations, the enrichment of coming into the presence of God with prayer and praise, and the renewal of congregational life. The essays lead the readers in a pilgrimage that takes them from the Old Testament to the New Testament, to the usage and interpretation of the psalms in the early church and the era of the Reformation, and to our modern/postmodern context. The book includes various approaches to the use of the psalms. I expect this volume will encourage many to reassess their own theological, liturgical, and devotional practices.

Willem A. VanGemeren , professor of Old Testament,
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Forgotten Songs: Reclaiming the Psalms for Worship is a timely expression of timeless truths. Some readers will discover truths they did not know; other readers will remember truths they had almost forgotten; and still others will rejoice that notice has been taken again of how important the psalms are in Christian worship, both public and private. All readers will be revived by this refreshing word about the psalms of the faith. Here is an important book to help us recover the ancient words, still ever new.

Michael Travers , professor of English and senior fellow of the L. Russ Bush Center
for Faith and Culture, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

While liturgical churches use the psalms regularly, many Baptist, Pentecostal, and other free-church traditions do not. The impressive team of experts in this volume makes the case that the psalms enrich preaching, prayers, singing, and Christian living for every branch of Christianity. This volume is biblically sound and theologically rich, so it is practical to the core. Wells and Van Neste are to be commended for showing new audiences the great value of the Bibles model songs and prayers.

Paul House , professor of Divinity,
Beeson Divinity School of Samford University

A generation ago James Smart wrote a book about the mainline churches titled The Strange Silence of the Bible in the Church. A generation later, for different reasons, the same has become true in evangelical worship services. This book is a precious resource to help the church recover the invaluable prayers and songs God has given His people to address Him. To an often superficial church that hides its pain, struggle, and doubt on the one hand and fails to see the majesty and greatness of God on the other, Forgotten Songs can help churches and individual believers reclaim a strong dose of biblical reality. For future courses I teach on Psalms, this book will be required reading!

Stephen G. Dempster , professor of Religious Studies, Crandall University

The psalms, John Donne once said, are the manna of the church. They provide spiritual nurture throughout the wilderness of life for the people of God, expressing the full range of human hope, despair, confession, praise, and yearning for the living God. This collection of superb essays helps us join our hearts with all the saints through the ages who have found in the inspired words of the Psalter a pathway into the heart of God.

Timothy George , founding dean, Beeson Divinity School
and general editor, Reformation Commentary on Scripture

Dont we wish, pastors, that the mouths of our people were filled with robust prayer? That their homes echoed not only with sounds of television and iPods but with singing to the Lord? That the fullness of their private worship overflowed into our corporate gatherings? That our public worship would in turn enliven their personal devotion? Reading Forgotten Songs of God has inspired me to believe its possible. I am the reason for this book. Perhaps you are too. If, like me, you have underestimated the value of the psalms in giving your people divine words to sing and pray and in shaping their thoughts and feelings about God and His world, you need this book. The psalms werent just for Israel. In Christ they are for the church, waiting to be sung and prayed and preached by a new generation of worshippers. They are waiting to be remembered.

David King , senior pastor, Concord Baptist Church,
Chattanooga, Tennessee

For centuries the psalms have been largely neglected in the church with few resources available to recover them. You hold in your hands one of the finest modern manuals assembled to recover the psalms in your local church. Richard Wells and Ray Van Neste have called together an all-star cast to instruct us in the biblical use of the psalms and to demonstrate how wisely to put them into practice. Every pastor, music leader, and preparer of the corporate gatherings in the local church must carefully read this book and implement their wise and biblical strategies.

Brian Croft , senior pastor, Auburndale Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky,
and author, Visit the Sick, Practical Shepherding

Most Christians I know love the book of Psalms: these songs give voice to a wide range of human emotions and also speak to us clearly of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet too often we neglect the psalms in terms of that for which they were originally intended: the corporate praise of the Lord God. This collection of thoughtful, pastoral, and irenic articles is designed to encourage the church once again to think about how to integrate Gods own book of hymns and prayers into the public worship of the church. Highly recommended.

Carl R Trueman , Paul Woolley professor of Church History,
Westminster Theological Seminary

Forgotten Songs, Digital Edition

Based on Print Edition

Forgotten Songs: Reclaiming the Psalms for Christian Worship

Copyright 2012 by Ray Van Neste & C. Richard Wells

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4336-7178-4

Published by B&H Publishing Group

Nashville, Tennessee

Dewey Decimal Classification: 223.2

Subject Heading: WORSHIP \ BIBLE. O.T. PSALMS

Scripture quotations marked HCSB are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.