Psalms for the 21st Century

“Psalms for the 21st century is anything but formulaic, anything but ritualized, and not religious in a sense that most people would immediately recognize. But these Psalms and the Old Testament psalms seem oddly similar in voice. Like the Old Testament psalms, in a way these Psalms also seem to come from some wind-blown prophet, some grey-bearded Isaiah. However, this Isaiah does not call the faithful to God. This prophet calls the true individual away from the hierarchical and dogmatic, away from the cowering and subservient, back to his or her own true nature, back to an individuality that he or she might never have known…. He offers, rather, new songs, songs of ourselves, songs for our time.” – David R. Werner

“Offered here is not an otherworldly salvation encompassing the forgiveness of sins or the promise of heaven, but a salvation rooted in this world, in the here and now. Cook’s psalms for this next century offer the kind of salvation also encompassed within the word’s semantic range: ‘liberation from ignorance or illusion,’ and ‘preservation from destruction.’ They offer solace in friendship and confidence in reason. They celebrate life.” – Jonathan L. Reed