Reflections on the Psalms

REFLECTIONS ON THE PSALMS Born in Ireland in 1898, C. S. Lewis was educated at Malvern College for a year and then privately. He gained a triple First at Oxford and was a Fellow and Tutor at Magdalen College 1925-54. In 1954 he became Professor of Mediaeval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge. He was an outstanding and popular lecturer and had a deep and lasting influence on his pupils. C. S. Lewis was for many years an atheist, and described his conversion in Surprised by Joy: 'In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God ... perhaps the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.' It was this experience that helped him to understand not only apathy but active unwillingness to accept religion, and, as a Christian writer, gifted with an exceptionally brilliant and logical mind and a lucid, lively style, he was without peer. The Problem of Pain, The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity, The Four Loves and the posthumous Prayer: Letters to Malcolm are only a few of his best-selling works. He also wrote books for children, and some science fiction, besides many works of literary criticism. His works are known to millions of people all over the world in translation. He died on 22 November 1963, at his home in Oxford.

B O O K S BY C. S. LEWIS AVAILABLE FROM F O U N T PAPERBACKS

The Abolition of Man The Business of Heaven Christian Reflections Christian Reunion Compelling Reason The Dark Tower Fern-seed and Elephants The Four Loves God in the Dock The Great Divorce Letters Letters to Children Mere Christianity Miracles Narrative Poems The Pilgrim's Regress Prayer: Letters to Malcolm The Problem of Pain Readings for Reflection and Meditation Reflections on the Psalms The Screwtape Letters Screwtape Proposes a Toast Surprised by Joy Till We Have Faces BOOKS FOR CHILDREN AVAILABLE FROM H A R P E R C O L L I N S

The Chronicles of Narnia

C. S. Lewis

R E F L E C T I O N S ON T H E PSALMS

Fount An Imprint of HurperCoXYinsPublishers

Fount Paperbacks is an Imprint of HarperCoUmsReligious Part of HarperCollinsPaWzs^ers 77-85 Fulham Palace Road, London w6 8JB First published in Great Britain in 1958 and in 1967 by Fontana Books First printed in Fount Paperbacks in 1977 This edition first published 1998 1

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Copyright © 1958 Literat S.A. The Book of Common Prayer is Crown Copyright Extracts are reproduced by permission. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN O 00 628092 7

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This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

To Austin and Katharine Farrer

Contents

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Introductory

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'Judgement' in the Psalms