Logan
Puritan Board Graduate
I have looked at various psalters and want to continue to evaluate them. Ones I currently own are the
Comprehensive Psalter (1650 Psalms of David in Metre)
1912 United Presbyterian Psalter
RPCNA Psalms for Singing
RPCNA Psalms for Worship
And I'm waiting my order of "Sing Psalms" and "Psalm Singing in the 21st Century" which both promise to be updated versions of the 1650 Psalter.
It certainly would be nice to have a unified psalm-singing community and some argue we have that with the 1650 Psalter. My family and I have used (and are currently using) it for family worship but there are places where the meaning is less clear to me, the meter is off, and singability (and thus memorization) are difficult. Don't get me wrong, the psalter has been blessed for hundreds of years and has a great history and great translators, but I'm not yet convinced that this is where we should stop.
One of the main purposes of my evaluation is that I would like to stick with a version through my children's growing years so they can have some consistent psalms to memorize and sing.
I see plenty of articles and websites defending the use of the 1650 Psalter but, much like KJV articles, they tend to be one-sided and only present evidence that serves their view. One article points out how the Psalter is actually closer to the Hebrew in a couple of instances and this is great, but how about places where it is further from the Hebrew? How about the second version of Psalm 136 which puts the same phrase as both a positive and negative in each stanza?
Another of the problems I have is that it is difficult sometimes to pick CM and CMD tunes that really are married to the text. Yes, it is easy for singability but you end up duplicating a lot of the tunes or using ones which really aren't very memorable. The Comprehensive Psalter seeks to remedy this but not all the tunes are very pleasant, easy to learn, or easy to sing. The Psalms for Worship does a very good job with tunes in general, but makes some major mistakes in other areas.
So it comes down to this: I would like to have an honest critique of the 1650 Psalter and if you could give me one or point me to articles then I would appreciate it as I go about evaluating. Thanks!
Comprehensive Psalter (1650 Psalms of David in Metre)
1912 United Presbyterian Psalter
RPCNA Psalms for Singing
RPCNA Psalms for Worship
And I'm waiting my order of "Sing Psalms" and "Psalm Singing in the 21st Century" which both promise to be updated versions of the 1650 Psalter.
It certainly would be nice to have a unified psalm-singing community and some argue we have that with the 1650 Psalter. My family and I have used (and are currently using) it for family worship but there are places where the meaning is less clear to me, the meter is off, and singability (and thus memorization) are difficult. Don't get me wrong, the psalter has been blessed for hundreds of years and has a great history and great translators, but I'm not yet convinced that this is where we should stop.
One of the main purposes of my evaluation is that I would like to stick with a version through my children's growing years so they can have some consistent psalms to memorize and sing.
I see plenty of articles and websites defending the use of the 1650 Psalter but, much like KJV articles, they tend to be one-sided and only present evidence that serves their view. One article points out how the Psalter is actually closer to the Hebrew in a couple of instances and this is great, but how about places where it is further from the Hebrew? How about the second version of Psalm 136 which puts the same phrase as both a positive and negative in each stanza?
Another of the problems I have is that it is difficult sometimes to pick CM and CMD tunes that really are married to the text. Yes, it is easy for singability but you end up duplicating a lot of the tunes or using ones which really aren't very memorable. The Comprehensive Psalter seeks to remedy this but not all the tunes are very pleasant, easy to learn, or easy to sing. The Psalms for Worship does a very good job with tunes in general, but makes some major mistakes in other areas.
So it comes down to this: I would like to have an honest critique of the 1650 Psalter and if you could give me one or point me to articles then I would appreciate it as I go about evaluating. Thanks!