N. T. Wright’s latest book, The Case for the Psalms, dropped last week without much fanfare.  It’s a little book, small in both page size and page count.  It is also, surprisingly, a brilliant book about worldview.

Worldview has been a part of my vocabulary since my junior year of college, when I intercepted and read a book being passed from one teacher to another. I’ve been able to nurture the concept’s place in curriculum over the last few years, too.  So I was quite glad to see Wright’s take on the book of Psalms as a worldview-shaper.

Early in the book, Wright distinguishes his use of the term from the more Francis Schaeffer-esque view, which is “used to refer to a basic kit of would-be Christian assumptions that for some reason have taken on a particular political slant.”  Instead, Wright employs worldview as “something like a pair of spectacles: it is what you look through, not what you look at. Worldviews . . . are a swirling combination of stories, symbols, habitual praxis, and assumed answers to key questions.”

For Wright, the Psalms are a key component of that swirl.  And, as is so often the case, Wright presents his thoughts brilliantly.  The Law.  Second-Temple Judaism.  Messianic imprints throughout the book.  Regular church practice.  All of it is there.  All of it based on a “creational monotheism” that stands opposite of our own modern Epicureanism.

Christianity Today just posted an interview with Wright concerning the book.  I’d encourage you to read it to get a better picture of his thoughts.  You can read the interview here.  The book, The Case for the Psalms, is available online or at your local Barnes and Noble.