Chester Johnson and his wife Freda have been dear friends to
Marie and me for over 20 years. We first met the Johnsons at
Trinity Church in New York City where I was Vicar. Chester and
Freda were active members of Trinity, and Chester served for a
number of years on the Vestry.
Born in Tennessee and raised in Arkansas and Harvard-educated,
Chester has spent most of his life in New York City in the world of
finance.
Chester is a gifted poet, essayist and speaker. In the 1970s,
Chester served alongside the noted poet W.H. Auden as one of the
two poets on the drafting committee which retranslated the Psalms
for our Book of Common Prayer. In the years since, Chester
has authored a number of volumes of poetry. I am particularly fond
of one poem which relates to our time together in New York City:
"St. Paul's Chapel." This wonderful poem has been used by
Trinity Church and its neighboring St. Paul's Chapel for
distribution to those visiting that historic church which was the
site of important rescue and relief work during the months
following the 9-11 attacks.
I am delighted that Chester has recently visited with us in the
Diocese of Florida and spoke at our Cathedral about some of his
recent books. I am grateful, too, that Owene Courtney has
written the following review of Chester's most recent book, Auden,
the Psalms, and Me.
+SJH
April 16, 2018
A Book Review of Chester
Johnson's Auden, the Psalms and Me
By Owene Courtney, Director of the
Center for Prayer & Spirituality, St John's Cathedral,
Jacksonville
Self- described as "bubbly and slightly mercurial" in his 20's,
Chester Johnson still charms and fascinates when he discusses his
experience on the drafting committee for the 1979 retranslation of
the Psalms contained in the current edition of the Book of Common
Prayer. If you have ever wondered why the psalms in our prayer book
today are slightly different, more accurate and sometimes more
lyrical than the ones in the bibles you read, Chester's bookAuden,
the Psalms and Meis a must read.
In his book, Chester tells the story of how his 'bubbly and
slightly mercurial self' became involved with the drafting
committee for the retranslation of the Episcopal psalms, and then
how he took the place of esteemed 20th century
British/American poet W. H. Auden on the committee "at the grand
old age of twenty-six, being at least twenty years younger the next
youngest member." By no means dry or theological, this delightful
book tells the story of a humbly bright and clever young poet who
unabashedly offered his services to a more senior and experienced
group of scholars, only for them to discover he was the perfect
person for the job. Students of Church History and the prayer book
will enjoy it for this reason.
Chester explains the reasons the retranslation was so necessary
and appropriate as well as W. H. Auden's ambivalent feelings about
the revision of the Book of Common Prayer. He also includes
correspondence with W. H. Auden, which reveals the origin of those
feelings as well as a better understanding of Auden's "friends and
influences, mirrored in the realms of literature, literary
criticism, and theology." Students of literature, particularly
20th century poetry, will enjoy it for this reason.
As a scholar and a poet, Chester carefully acknowledges the
literary devices inherent in the psalms, ones which elevate them to
an eloquently poetic level and had to be preserved in the
retranslation. Poetic devices from chiasmus to parataxis,
possibly not known by name, will be recognized by readers as what
makes the language of the psalms so beautiful. Poets and writers
will enjoy the book for this reason.
My favorite part of the book is toward the end when Chester
compares the Coverdale translations with his retranslations and
explains why the nuances of word, punctuation, and syntax change
were so important. Having been a young adult in the church as the
"new" prayer book was introduced, I was shocked with how poorly
received it was and how offended people were by the changes. I
worshiped in a church where the clergy taught the 'whys, hows,
wheres and whats' of the changes, and consequently the people were
less offended. What Chester has done with this book by continuing
that explanation is to offer pray-ers and worshipers a gently
humorous and humble, yet very scholarly, explanation of why the
changes were made and how they make a significant difference in our
prayer life.
Whet your appetite for this book by reading the psalms in your
bible and then in your Book of Common Prayer. Note the changed
words or syntax and then see what Chester says about them. As
Chester says, "None of our revised verses have come back to bite us
like other revisions have," referencing another translation of
Psalm 50 which says, "I will accept no bull from your house" rather
than the BCP translation "I will take no bull calf from your
stall." Chester Johnson is clever and humble and thoroughly
delightful, just like his book.
Auden, the Psalms and Me(2017, Church Publishing) is available
at the St John's Cathedral bookshop and via Amazon.