Dr. Reuben Bredenhof & Family
Dr. Reuben Bredenhof was called to be Minister of the Word in 2004. After serving two congregations in Canada, he and his family moved to Western Australia in 2015 so he could take up pastoring in the Free Reformed Church in Mt. Nasura (near Perth). In 2016 Reuben completed his PhD in New Testament studies (at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham) with a thesis concentrating on the challenge of interpreting the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16). My studious colleague agreed to answer a few questions about the work he did for Christ’s Psalms, Our Psalms, to give us a peak inside his study. Enjoy! Peter Holtvlüwer
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PH: Let me start by thanking you for your contribution to Christ’s Psalms, Our Psalms. Besides being invited, what drew you to participate in this project?
RB: I was intrigued by the idea of doing some in-depth study of the Psalms, a book that I’ve often preached on in isolated bits and pieces – a psalm here and there for one-off sermons – but which I have never examined as a whole, and not in a really detailed way. I saw this project as an opportunity to get deeper into Psalms as a book, and to learn to appreciate in a new way the structure, artistry, and themes of the psalms.
PH: Which particular psalms did you work on? There was some (limited) choice in psalm assignments – was there anything special about this group for you? Please tells us about it.
RB: I worked on Psalms 18-20, 50, 86, 89-92, and 141-145. I’ve always loved Psalm 86, so that was one personal draw toward this particular grouping of Psalms. But really I was happy to work on any section of the Psalter, for the reasons mentioned above.
PH: One of the key things you were asked to find were legitimate connections to Jesus Christ in each psalm. How did you find this task? Did your psalms present any distinctive difficulties in this respect? Did you learn of any connections to Christ that were new to you?
RB: The work of finding connections to Christ was a really interesting and then also personally encouraging part of the project. Approaching the psalms with the prior conviction that they testify to Christ (Luke 24:44) lent some confidence to the exercise of investigating in what way the individual psalms do this. I believed that they did—I just needed to see how!
And then I was struck by how the psalms speak of Christ in such a variety of different ways. For example, in my chosen section I had a number of very much “king-oriented” psalms (e.g., 20, 89, 244, 145), where the link to Christ as the ascended King might appear more obvious. In other psalms, a connection came through a quotation of the psalm in the New Testament (e.g., Paul quoting Psalm 19:4 in Romans 10:18 to describe the preaching of the gospel of Christ to all the world). A connection to Christ that was new to me was how the Psalm 90 portrait of mankind’s sinfulness and weakness – and the abrupt shortness of our life! – is so beautifully altered when we consider how Christ has redeemed us from sin and futility, and has given us a new and everlasting life in him!
PH: You are a full-time minister with plenty of demands on your schedule. How did you manage to work on Christ’s Psalms, Our Psalms alongside of your regular work? Did you encounter any special challenges? What sorts of things did you do to help you complete the assignment?
RB: My strategy was simply to work on my CPOP “assignments” on a regular basis. In a week where there was a lighter work load of preaching or visiting, I would try to devote some time to research and reading, and then do some writing. As for special challenges during this project, in 2015-16 I was in the last stages of finishing my PhD thesis so there was about a year when I didn’t produce a whole lot for CPOP. But once the thesis was submitted, I could give more time and attention to the project.
PH: How many hours (on average) did you put into each psalm? How did your wife feel about your involvement in CPOP?
That’s really hard to say – I probably put more than twenty hours into each psalm, including writing the ER and two meditations per psalm. My wife encouraged me in my work on this project, though I do seem to recall her questioning the wisdom of agreeing to do it while I hadn’t yet finished my thesis! But she did think that it would be an interesting and beneficial project to be involved in, and (as always) she was quite right.
PH: Tell us about one of the most interesting or surprising things that you learned in working on your psalms.
RB: I was fascinated to see the ways in which the psalms relate and connect to one another in their immediate context. Probably like a lot of Christians, I have always read the psalms as individual pieces of praise, thanksgiving, prayer, petition, etc. I would read one and meditate on one, without giving any thought to the psalm that comes just before or just after, or the psalms in the section as a whole. But studying the psalms within their sub-sections and looking for their interconnections has given me a profound appreciation for the thought and care that went into the formation of the Psalter. Sometimes it is a key phrase or term from one psalm that is picked up and “developed” in the next. Sometimes there is a broader section of psalms that keeps returning to an important theme. Sometimes there appears to be a deliberate contrast from one psalm to the next. In this regard it’s interesting to think about God the Holy Spirit inspiring not only the authors of the Psalter, but also its editors and compilers!
PH: Christ’s Psalms, Our Psalms Study Resource was developed in part with Christian teachers and preachers in mind. In your mind, what stands out as the most useful features for educators? For ministers?
RB: For educators, I think that the Study Resource will be useful in providing detailed information about the authorship of the psalms, the structure, the poetic elements and literary features, key words and unusual words, as well as the links to the OT and NT. I imagine that the discussion questions will also be helpful in the classroom
setting. For ministers, I expect that the Study Resource will be valuable for sermon preparation as they give an overview of a given psalm’s purpose, message and setting. The section on Christ-connections will surely also help a minister preach Christ from the psalms. The sections on application and suggested uses are certainly not exhaustive, but they provide a minister with useful starting points for working with the psalm in his preaching and liturgy.
PH: How do you think people in your church might use either CPOP’s Study Guide or Devotional? What benefits do you see in this material for ordinary Christians?
RB: The Study Resource will be excellent for personal Bible study, as well as for communal Bible study. I expect that the Devotional could be used by families, couples, and individuals as part of a daily routine of reading and meditating on Scripture. I hope that the materials in CPOP serve to connect God’s people more closely to his Word, and with this part of Scripture in particular, which is so rich in comfort, hope, and instruction.
PH: As a minister serving in Western Australia, is there a role for CPOP to play in benefitting the larger Christian community in Australia?
It would be wonderful if CPOP could find a wide readership among Christian communities throughout this country. I see the Study Resource in particular as filling a gap in the available literature on the psalms. And while the psalms are read and loved by many Christians, I fear that there is at best a superficial knowledge of what this book of the Bible is really all about—and therefore a lack of appreciation for just how rich we are in having it! Christ’s Psalms, Our Psalms could be a valuable tool for deepening many people’s love for the psalms, and for the God and Saviour who is revealed in the psalms.
**Fini**