Arguing with God: A Theological Anthropology of the Psalms

Bernd Janowski (University of Heidelberg) is not yet much known to English-speaking readers. He will be now! He is a world class scholar who has written a world class book that will promptly become the bench-mark for theological interpretation of the Psalms. Janowski, in a dense, complex genuinely inviting book, combines acute theological sensibility, close exegetical alertness, and attention to the large human questions now before us concerning life and hope in a failed world. The result of his work is a study that will reward close, careful, sustained reading. We may be grateful to Westminster John Knox for bringing this fresh and judicious book into English translation.
--Walter Brueggemann, William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament Emeritus, Columbia Theological Seminary

Finally translated into English, this monumental treatment of psalmic prayer is part theology, part anthropology, part psychology, and part reception history. Janowski not only brings to bear his wide-ranging knowledge of ancient Near Eastern literature, Hebrew poetry, and European scholarship. He also exhibits in his writing a deep pastoral sensitivity that will make his work eminently useful in the church.
--William P. Brown, William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary

There has not been a book like this since Hans Walter Wolff's famous Anthropology of the Old Testament. Janowski offers both insightful analyses of individual psalms and a comprehensive framework for biblical anthropology. The result is a subtle exploration of the Old Testament's understanding of human existence in the presence of the living God.
--Andreas Schuele, Professor of Old Testament and Director of the Institute of Judaic Studies, University of Leipzig, Germany