The author, who identifies as an evangelical Christian, and who serves as a professor and pastor, has composed a book that is intended to teach about the Psalms.  While obviously it can be read by individuals, it seems to be meant for group reading and discussion.  I think of members of a congregation who gather for sessions of Bible study, or undergraduates in a course on Sacred Scripture.

So, each chapter concludes with a series of questions, not to quiz the reader on whether they have learned what the author is teaching about the Psalms in that chapter, but to share personal ideas and insights with other members of their study group.  Since it is a teaching commentary, detailed exegesis is left for the more elaborate footnotes, in many of which the author references a number of other authors regarding the points that he is making.  Another way to keep the text from being weighed down with details is to offer a series of online development of themes, namely six developments, each entitled "Digging Deeper," that the reader can download for a fuller exposition.

The book is divided into three main sections.  The first studies the Psalms as a canonical book of the Bible.  Both the Jewish Bible and the Christian Bible divide the Psalms into five books, mirroring the five books of the Torah.  The author claims that the first two Psalms serve as pillars that provide a formal entrance to the entire book.  Psalm 1 celebrates the person of faith who will pray all the Psalms in worship of YHWH, both individually and in communal liturgies.  Psalm 2 calls upon the person of faith to submit "to the leadership of YHWH and his anointed king" (p. 51).  The author also frequently makes a strong pitch for paying attention to the superscriptions that begin so many of the Psalms.

The second section of the book moves to the christological meaning of the Psalms.  Vaillancourt quotes the risen Christ's words to the two disciples in Luke 24: 44-47 that the Psalms, along with Moses and the Prophets, say much about Jesus, and needed to be fulfilled in his life.  Thus, the Psalms are to be prayed by the Christian people as revelatory of salvation history in a "redemptive-historical progression" (p. 100).  As part of this, the author notes how often Jesus is quoted as praying or otherwise referencing the Psalms.

The third section of the book moves on to further ways that the contemporary Christian is called upon to apply the Psalms to his or her own life.  This includes all the Psalms, including the royal Psalms, and the person who prays the Psalms also sorts out the Psalms of lament and thanksgiving and praise.  Indeed, the author claims that Psalm 150 is intended to be a summary of all the Psalms as prayers of praise.

This is a straightforwardly written book that readers will find instructive and even inspiring, both individually and, as the author intends, in group readings and discussion.