For the entire history of the church until, quite recently, the Psalter was the songbook of the Christian church. It was something shared across denominational boundaries. The Apostolic church sang the psalms and the post-apostolic church continued, in different ways, in the following centuries. Sometimes it was monastic choirs singing the Psalms but they were sung in worship. In the Reformation, the Reformed churches in particular were known for their Psalm singing. When the French authorities went looking for Reformed folk to arrest and kill, they could find them by listening for the sound of Psalm singing. The Huguenot martyrs obliged by singing the Psalms on the way to their deaths, until the authorities cut out their tongues to stop them. The Reformed translated the Psalms into the language of the people, set them to meter, and made songbooks out of them for use in public worship by the church. Where the medieval church saw monks chanting the Psalms, the Reformation saw whole congregations singing the Psalms. In the Modern period, through the 18th and 19th centuries the place of the Psalms in worship was gradually lost to non-canonical hymns so that, in our day, there are not a few younger Christians who have never once sung a Psalm in public worship, not even Psalm 23 or Psalm 100. We live now in the most psalm-less age in the history of the Christian church. Now we do not even have monastic choirs to chant the Psalms for us but instead, we praise bands and worship leaders (the new monastic choirs) to sing non-canonical songs in place of the people.

The goal of this series is to help re-acquaint the late-modern church with the only song book inspired by the Holy Spirit in the hope that God might use it to help restore his Word to the place it once had in public worship in the Presbyterian and Reformed world and beyond.

By Psalm

1. An Introduction To The Psalter On The Law And The Gospel: Psalms 1–2 by Harrison Perkins
2. Series on Psalm 1: The Blessed Man, The Blessed Life, The Blessed Word by Sean Morris
3. Series on Psalm 2: God Is King Over The Nations by Harrison Perkins
4. Psalms 2 & 110: Ruling In The Midst Of His Enemies by R. Scott Clark
5. Series on Psalm 3: Despite Appearances by Harrison Perkins
6. Series on Psalm 4: Courage In The Storm by Harrison Perkins
7. Series on Psalm 6: Troubled Bones And The God Who Turns by Sean Morris
8. Psalm 7: The Best Line of Defense by Harrison Perkins
9. Series on Psalm 8: The Mindfulness of Our Creator & Sustainer by Stephen Spinnenweber
10. Series on Psalm 9: The Past For The Sake Of The Present by Harrison Perkins
11. Series on Psalm 10: Where is the Lord? by Harison Perkins
12. Series on Psalm 11: Explicable Courage by Harrison Perkins
13. Series on Psalm 12: A Pure And Protecting Word by Harrison Perkins
14. Series on Psalm 13: How Long? by Harrison Perkins
15. Series on Psalm 14: The Heart Talk Of Fools by Harrison Perkins
16. Series on Psalm 16: A Song Of Hope For Body And Soul by Scott McDermand II
17. Psalm 23 and Queen Elizabeth by Donald Keddie
18. Series on Psalm 29: The Voice of the Lord by Christopher Smith
19. Series on Psalm 34 by Zach Keele
20. Series on Psalm 42: Desiring God by Sean Morris
21. Series on Psalm 50 by Scott McDermand II
22. Series on Psalm 51: Stains of Guilt by Zach Keele
23. Series on Psalm 58: Abortion And Rebirth In Psalm 58 by Aaron De Boer
24. Holy Saturday In Light Of Psalm 62 by R. Scott Clark
25. Series on Psalm 63: Withered Joy And The Splendors Of The Sanctuary by Zach Keele
26. Series on Psalm 73: God’s Directions for Doubters by Alex Hewitson
27. Series on Psalm 77: Comfort in Chaos by Christopher Smith
28. Psalm 80: Singing The Eightieth, Pleading For Reform
29. Series on Psalm 88: Light in the Midst of Darkness by Robert M. Godfrey
30. Series on Psalm 100: Made For Worship by Sean Morris
31. Series on Psalm 110 by Zach Keele
32. Series on Psalm 113: The God Worthy Of Psalming And Hymning by Luke Gossett
33. Psalm 115 As Sung In The Early Church, The Medieval Church, and The Reformation-Era Reformed Churches (Video)
34. Series on Psalms 120–122: The LORD Is With His Pilgrims by Christopher Smith
35. Psalm 124: Snatched From the Death Waters: Finding Peace Amidst the Rising Tide by Zach Keele
36. Series on Psalm 126: Gladness In The Face Of Realism by Harrison Perkins
37. Psalm 146: He Who Keeps Faith Forever by Antonio Coppola

By Topic

• The Psalm I Want Sung At My Graveside by R. Scott Clark
• Singing In Acts 16:25 And Plausibility Structures by R. Scott Clark
• Keith Getty’s Critique Of Contemporary Worship Music Is A Step In The Right Direction by R. Scott Clark
• What Did the Divines Mean By Psalms? by R. Scott Clark
• Psalms, Hymns, Spiritual Songs, and Instruments in the Vulgate by R. Scott Clark
• Parallelism and Poetic Imagination in the Psalms: C. S. Lewis Reflections on the Psalms by C. S. Lewis
• Singing With Good King David—Calvin On The Psalms by John Calvin
• An Introduction To The Psalter On The Law And The Gospel: Psalms 1–2 by Harrison Perkins

Resources

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• Recovering the Reformed Confession (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2008)
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• Resources On Psalm Singing
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• How The Dutch Reformed Lost The Psalms
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