What a beautiful exploration of the book of Psalms! Given that so much of the Western (especially non-mainline) church knows the psalms only sparingly - a line or two here repurposed in a modern worship song, Psalm 23, maybe parts of Psalm 139 - this in-depth examination is a gift. The heights of joy and praise, the depths of lament and imprecation, Taylor lays it all out for his reader and beckons them to enter in to this full, all-encompassing depiction of what it means to be a thinking, believing, and perhaps most of all, feeling human. We all lose out when our Christianity shies away from the breadth and depth of all the emotions with which we were created and the psalms show us how to express them to God and to our communities in healthy and ultimately, life-giving ways.

This book is an "open and unafraid" look at the Psalms, an excellent resource for individuals and small groups, for pastors and anyone looking to enrich their understanding of the Psalms. It's both engaging and scholarly, devotional and studious, full of solid content plus questions for reflection and exercises to help individuals and groups interact with the Psalms.

I received an ARC from Nelson Books, via NetGalley. This review is my personal opinion.

I must say that this book is beautiful, this feels more like an invitation to go deeper and be open, but also unafraid with an answer and with will found out. To take your time and be vulnerable and let God speak to your heart. The language and the deepness of the psalms are incredible and we relate, I must say this book was and has open my eyes to a new dimension of the Psalms. I didn’t know about the different types of psalms and how I can use them in my daily life. This is a book for just read but for a deep and profound study, to have a copy and take your time with each chapter and the questions and the exercise, I think it will be an excellent choice between family and friends. Truly grateful for W David Taylor, even to Eugene Peterson, I feel blessed to be blessed by the opportunity of reading this book and I pray many could be blessed.

I was so excited to see this book! I love reading the Psalms, but I often feel like I am missing the deeper message. In "Open and Unafraid," W. David O. Taylor explains the purpose and place of the Psalms, grounding them in history while expanding on their importance to Christians and those of Jewish faith over the centuries. The Psalms explore every aspect of human emotion while relating the struggles and joys of life to God's work and relationship with God. In additio to history, Taylor builds in interpretation to give the Psalms a new layer of meeting.

Taylor included excellent teaching methods with the questions and reflections at the end of the chapters, guiding readers to go deeper with their own understanding and allowing us to join him in learner rathern than just receive the knoweldge. An excellent book, this should be on everyone's Christmas list this year!

Open and Unafraid by David O. Taylor is not so much a study of the Psalms as it is the application of the Psalms to certain themes, such as Honesty, Anger, Community, Poetry, Prayers, and others . There are study questions at the end of each chapter so you can apply these themes to your own life, if you wish. There are also instructions on writing your own psalms.

Overall, and with a few exceptions, I found it to be more of a self help book than a study of the Psalms.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley. My review is voluntary.

This book has a great intention behind it. I enjoyed the purpose and thoughtfulness of this book but found it difficult to navigate the writing style.

The Psalms have always been a favorite book of mine in times of anxiety so reading this book in the middle of the pandemic was the perfect opportunity to take a deeper look at the book of Psalms when my anxiety was extremely high.

First sentence: In the Psalms we join our voices in lament and praise with other voices who weep and laugh.

Love the book of Psalms? Want to know the book of Psalms better? I'd definitely recommend Taylor's new book, Open and Unafraid.

The timing of this book is just perfect. Both the publishing--March 2020--and my reading of it. As the world changes drastically in response to COVID 19, Taylor's book offers much food for thought. The truth, wisdom, comfort, and hope of Scriptures--particularly the Psalms--shines forth. Psalms is both our song book and our prayer book. Or it perhaps should be.

The Psalms truly cover EVERY and ALL aspects of our emotional lives.

Chapter One: Honesty
Chapter Two: Community
Chapter Three: History
Chapter Four: Prayers
Chapter Five: Poetry
Chapter Six: Sadness
Chapter Seven: Anger
Chapter Eight: Joy
Chapter Nine: Enemies
Chapter Ten: Justice
Chapter Eleven: Death
Chapter Twelve: Life
Chapter Thirteen: Nations
Chapter Fourteen: Creation

The book is written to ENGAGE readers, inviting them deeper and further. Each chapter includes questions for reflections, exercises, and a prayer.

Quotes:

"If we have any wish to mature in our humanity and to glorify God with our entire heart, mind, soul, and strength, the Psalms are necessary. We cannot bypass the Psalms. They are God’s gift to train us in prayer that is comprehensive and honest."
"To be open and unafraid with God is to counter the devastating effects of our primordial sin. When Adam and Eve sinned, their first impulse was to hide. In making clothes for themselves, they hid their bodies. When they heard the sound of their Maker’s voice, they hid from God. In their telltale lies, they hid from the truth, and in their mutual accusations, they hid from each other. All the ways in which Adam and Eve hid resulted in one thing: their dehumanization. Like Adam and Eve, when we hide from God, we become alienated from God, and thus spend our strength trying to transcend life’s limits: death, dependence, moral laws, God-given boundaries. When we hide from others, we cut ourselves off from the life-giving gift of community. When we hide from creation, we deny our God-ordained creaturely nature and often seek to exploit rather than to care for creation. And when we hide from ourselves, we become strangers to ourselves through selfish, self-indulgent behavior that ultimately does violence to our nature as humans made in God’s image."
"We become whole by praying our honest joys and our honest sorrows. We pray our honest praise of God and our honest anger at God; we pray also for honest speech in our words to God. With the psalmist we pray that God will protect our tongues from deceit (Ps. 34:13). We pray that we not sin with our words (Ps. 39:1). We pray that we resist the urge to gossip and flatter (Ps. 12:3), and that we choose to live with integrity (Ps. 41:12), rejecting words that both inflate and deflate us before God (Ps. 32). To pray in this way is to keep ourselves open to others and to God."
"It is easy to be honest before God with our hallelujahs; it is somewhat more difficult to be honest in our hurts; it is nearly impossible to be honest before God in the dark emotions of our hate. So we commonly suppress our negative emotions (unless, neurotically, we advertise them). Or, when we do express them, we do it far from the presence, or what we think is the presence, of God, ashamed or embarrassed to be seen in these curse-stained bib overalls. But when we pray the psalms, these classic prayers of God’s people, we find that will not do. We must pray who we actually are, not who we think we should be."
"We can be honest to God about the best and worst parts of our human condition, because we know that the grace of God precedes our honest confessions, the grace of God undergirds our honest thanksgivings, and the grace of God follows our honest laments."
"Whatever else they are, the psalms are prayers. They’re prayers for people who already know how to pray as well as for those who don’t know how to pray at all. They’re prayers for those who wish to pray to God with all their heart."
"To sing a new song is not to sing a “new thing” or the “next thing.” It is to sing in light of the reality of God’s good future, made present to Christ’s people by his Spirit. This is the same life-giving Spirit who makes us partakers of Christ’s ever-renewing resurrected life (Rom. 8): a life that belongs to the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15), where humanity is not simply alive (a nephesh hayah) but “hyperalive, excessively alive,” as Jeremy Begbie describes it."

This is not a book you can zoom through--"Open and Unafraid" is a book that you must savor and take in. David Taylor takes Biblical expository and makes it applicable and easily understood. He chooses the themes of the Psalms to delve deeper and it was a great book with questions at the end of each chapter, a place for reflection and a written prayer. If you're interested in the Psalms, this is a great book for you!

I was an early reader, thanks to #NetGalley and the publishers. All opinions are my own.

Open and I afraid couldn’t have come at a better time.
As we experience uncertain times worldwide, this study of Psalms hits the spot. It challenges the reader to look beyond literal meaning, which is how we read and understand much of the Bible, and to appreciate how God uses beautiful, poetic verse in the Psalms to instruct, comfort, and encourage us.

Rather than organizing by individual Psalms, this book is organized by themes that are prevalent throughout the book of Psalms. As the theme is explored, the author references numerous Psalms, considering how that Psalmist develops the theme. Each theme study is followed by a series of questions. These are thought-provoking questions that prompt the reader to make direct application to their own life. Many devotional books stop here, leaving the reader with an understanding of the fact that the topic of discussion convicts them of a need to make a change in their life. The problem with stopping there is that despite the knowledge of needing to change, and the desire to change, we often don’t know how to begin. That’s where this book is different! After the questions there are numerous exercises that allow the reader to immediately put into practice what they’re learning. These exercises are practical ideas that are easily implemented, yet can be transformational. The chapter then concludes with a prayer directly related to the theme.

This book isn’t a “5 minutes with God” type of study of the Psalms. It’s a book that provides a depth of study and personal application that will challenge and empower the reader to live in line with God’s Word. I see this as a book that I will come back to time and again, likely filling the margins with notes.

Thanks go to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

In Open and Unafraid: The Psalms as a Guide to Life W. David O. Taylor explains why the Psalms are timeless and have been central to God's people across millennia and cultures. It is because they speak openly and honestly about every human emotion and situation as the various writers struggle with and/or rejoice in their faith and their relationship with God. Taylor not only helps us understand the history of the Psalms, but gives us a fresh interpretation of all they have to offer us today.
In the introduction, Taylor tells the reader about taking a course taught by Eugene Peterson, pastor and author, while at seminary. Following a lecture, he questioned Peterson as to what they should do, practically speaking, with all the knowledge that Peterson had presented. Peterson answered "Tomorrow, David, read Psalm 1. The next day read Psalm 2. The day after, read Psalm 3. When you get to the end, start over." In other words, use the Psalms as a guide to life.

I appreciate the deeper understanding and appreciation of the Psalms that Taylor offers. At the end of each chapter, he gives questions for reflections, exercises and a prayer. I found these very helpful!

This is a very good read for anyone who loves the Psalms, would like to grow in their faith and relationship with God or both.

My thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for allowing me to read a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed here are my own.

"Open and Unafraid" is an excellent book detailing the importance of the Psalms. The author reiterates the treasure trove of the Psalms, and the many ways it can help, regardless of what we're going through: joy, loneliness, death, community, anger, fear, etc. The Psalms were written by several men who were very open about their feelings and were willing to talk honestly to the Lord about their feelings. Each chapter is based on a different topic found in the Psalms, and ends with some soul-searching questions and actions that can be taken. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the Bible, specifically the book of Psalms.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.