Tim Larsen on Philip Jenkins’s new book on Psalm 91: “Sometimes called ‘the Protection Psalm’ because of its blanket assurances, it seems the very definition of over-promising: ‘A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee’. … Many religious leaders have therefore found Psalm 91 a bit of an embarrassment. They have been at pains to point out that it reflects a naive, primitive kind of belief; as such, it is best for moderns to not take its words too much to heart. Yet the faithful can demonstrate a devotion to the psalm that is hard for the sophisticated to grasp.”