Reading the Psalms: Thomas Merton, C.S. Lewis and Bede Griffiths

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Thomas Merton (1915-1968), C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) and Bede Griffiths (1906-1993) are, probably, three of the most significant Christian writers of the 20^th century. Lewis held Merton in high regard and Lewis- Griffiths had a decades long friendship. Merton thought Lewis was a superb writer and many were his affinities with Griffiths. Each of these men have their loyal followers and, sadly so, some of the disciples know little of how each of the men respected one another. Lewis was a lay Anglican, but he would have read the Psalms once a month as a result of living through Anglican Morning and Evening Prayers, whereas Griffiths and Merton were monks, hence each would have read the Psalms once a week in the Divine Offices. This means that each of the men was thoroughly acquainted with the Psalms and the dilemmas raised by their confessional nature.

The fact that Lewis, Griffiths and Merton meditatively internalized the Psalms meant that they had to, in their faith journey, ponder how to read the Psalter, some psalms being quite uplifting in their vision and description of the inner journey, others being quite graphic in their vindictive attitudes, some being quite noble in their political vision, others being quite warrior like and tribal. It was, therefore, in the reading of the Psalms, in a regular way, that Lewis, Griffiths and Merton, as they attempted to interpret and make sense of their faith journey, struggled with how to read the Psalms. It was in this inner pondering of faith experience of the various writers of the Psalms and Lewis’, Griffiths’ and Merton’s understanding of their Christian journey that, inevitably so, nudged each of the men to write a book on the Psalms.