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Crying for Justice: What the Psalms Have to Teach us about Mercy & Vengeance in an Age of Terroris

Author:	John N Day
Published By:	IVP (London)
Pages:	199
Price:	£9.99
ISBN:	1 84474 108 3

Reviewed by Chris Skilton.

This is a courageous, challenging and disturbing book from John Day, senior pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Washington. Spurred by the hostility that many Christians in different parts of the world face today, he asks whether we can justifiably use the imprecatory psalms to express a desire for justice and vengeance. Day offers a detailed study of Psalm 58 (uttered in the face of a societal enemy), 137 (international enemy) and 109 (personal enemy). He argues that the psalms were first uttered in the context of the covenant where God promises justice and also retribution to the enemies of the people of God. He sees this theme continued on the lips of Jesus in what have become known as some of his ‘hard sayings’ and right through the New Testament canon into the Book of Revelation.

Day is courageous and challenging in saying that evil must be named and dealt with - and dealt with not out of a spirit of revenge or vindictiveness, but because God is ultimately just. He counters the view that a loving God could not act in this way, with a powerful reminder that love and justice work hand in hand and that loving one’s enemies includes making them aware of the nature of their deeds and the consequences of them.

So far so good. The exegesis of the psalms is helpful, as is the placing of them in their Old Testament context. It is what is half said and not said that I find disturbing. For Day the “evil” to be named is always “out there” and in “them” rather than “us”. The reality is closer to home than Day would like or care to name. His only examples are of Islamic terrorism and violence enacted against Christians. How would for instance the Rwandan genocide or the Balkan conflict be considered in his thinking? In the light of his narrow set of examples the idea that “justice must be enacted - whether from God directly or through his representatives, such as the state or the judicial system” (p.115) did leave me wondering whether he had particular states and judicial systems in mind and not others. On a less significant note I think that C S Lewis’ treatment of these psalms is more nuanced than Day gives credit for (pages 22-24).

The book has the feel of a rewritten doctoral thesis, given that the main text runs to 105 pages and there are then 55 pages of end-notes. The bibliography is impressive, but readers of this journal might have preferred some guidance around the publications cited. The scriptural and subject indices are full and useful.