Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

The Psalms and the basic grammar of Christian worship -- Personal address and dialogic structure -- Identifying God's character through metaphor and historical recitation -- The ebb, flow, and fittingness of praise and petition -- Gratitude and lament -- Individual and communal speech -- Specificity and generality in prayer -- Emotional engagement and range -- Image and poetry in Christian speech -- Interlude reformation-era testimonies from Luther and Calvin -- Praying the Psalms in Christian worship -- Choosing a Psalm -- Liturgical criteria -- Canonical order -- The lectionary and the Christian year -- Liturgical elements and types of services -- Homiletical criteria -- Pastoral criteria -- Choosing a translation -- Translations and paraphrases of the Psalms -- The liturgical placement of a Psalm -- Liturgical congregations -- Other congregations -- Framing the congregation's mode of engagement -- Psalm types -- Contemplation or prayer -- Christological framings of Psalm texts -- Canonical context -- Studying the Psalm -- Realizing the Psalms : options for singing or speaking -- Solo reading -- Printed resources -- Choral reading -- Responsive or antiphonal readings -- Readings with musical refrains -- Readings only -- Chant -- Psalm tones and pointed text -- Music -- Pointed text -- Anglican chant -- Music -- Recordings -- Gelineau psalmody -- Recording -- Plainchant -- Printed resources -- Responsorial psalmody (or psalmody with congregational refrains or antiphons) -- Printed resources -- Jazz settings -- Single authors -- Recorded examples -- Performance suggestions -- Metrical psalmody -- Denominational hymnals.