Denis the Carthusian's Commentary on the Psalms (complete set)

Commentary on the Psalms

Purchase the Complete Six-Volume Set and Save

Own Denis the Carthusian’s complete Commentary on the Psalms, encompassing all 150 Psalms in six volumes, at special complete-set pricing.

Discounted pricing applies when purchasing the complete set.

Individual volumes remain available for purchase separately.

For the first time in English, the complete Commentary on the Psalms of Denis the Carthusian is now available as a six-volume collection. Written in the fifteenth century by one of the great spiritual and theological writers of the Carthusian tradition, Denis’s immense commentary encompasses the entire Psalter, from Psalm 1 through Psalm 150.

Drawing upon Sacred Scripture, the Fathers of the Church, the medieval theological tradition, the scholastic precision of St. Thomas Aquinas, and the contemplative inheritance associated with Pseudo-Dionysius, Denis approaches the Psalms not simply as texts to be explained, but as divine words to be prayed, contemplated, and lived.

Written at the meeting point of late Scholasticism and the Devotio Moderna, the Commentary combines theological rigor with an intensely personal concern for Christian perfection. The Psalms become a school of prayer and the spiritual life: calling the Christian to repentance, strengthening faith, encouraging virtue, deepening contemplation, and leading the soul toward union with God.

The Fourfold Sense of the Psalms

Denis reads the Psalter according to the Church’s traditional fourfold approach to Sacred Scripture.

A Commentary for Prayer and Study

Of more than merely historical interest, this translation encourages a deeper knowledge of the Psalms and serves as an aid to meditation, reflection, and the Christian spiritual life. Denis’s treatment is intensely Scriptural and personal, urging perfection in the Christian manner of living, or conversatio.

Throughout the commentary, doctrine is directed toward conversion, virtue, devotion, contemplation, and the perfection of Christian life. Denis presents the Psalter as a treasury capable of forming the intellect, moving the affections, and drawing the Christian more deeply into prayer.

The Completion of the Commentary

The sixth volume brings Denis’s treatment of the Psalter to its conclusion and includes his Tractate on the devout recitation of the Psalms. There Denis considers the affects—the dispositions, desires, longings, and movements of the heart—that ought to accompany the prayer of the Psalter and foster the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity.

With the publication of Nisi Dominus, English-speaking readers can now follow Denis continuously through the entire Book of Psalms and encounter the Psalter through the spiritual, theological, and contemplative vision of one of the most remarkable writers of the later Middle Ages.

A Monument of Catholic Scriptural Tradition

Taken together, these six volumes restore to English-speaking readers a major work of medieval Catholic theology and spirituality. Across all 150 Psalms, Denis brings Sacred Scripture into conversation with the Fathers, theologians, contemplatives, and the accumulated wisdom of the Christian tradition while continually directing the reader toward prayer and union with God.

The complete set is particularly suited to clergy and religious, seminarians, theologians, students of medieval Christianity, readers of the Church Fathers and scholastics, and anyone wishing to enter more deeply into the spiritual and theological riches of the Psalter.

Six Volumes · Psalms 1–150

Purchase all six volumes together at the discounted complete-set price. Individual volumes may also be purchased separately.