--- title: The Bible and the Media: How LIFE Magazine 'Illustrated' the Psalms description: Photos and excerpts from the Book of Psalms show how, 50 years ago, one media outlet chose to address the eternally thorny issue of faith. canonical: https://time.com/3879505/when-the-bible-meets-the-media-how-life-magazine-illustrated-the-psalms/ author: Liz Ronk article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-04T17:13:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:44.729Z og:title: The Bible and the Media: How LIFE Magazine 'Illustrated' the Psalms og:description: Photos and excerpts from the Book of Psalms show how, 50 years ago, one media outlet chose to address the eternally thorny issue of faith. og:url: https://time.com/3879505/when-the-bible-meets-the-media-how-life-magazine-illustrated-the-psalms/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f158649285d3d37/69884b98cd1bba5f176fadc5/140403-illustrated-psalms-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1937 og:image:height: 1090 og:image:alt: The Psalms, illustrated by Photographs og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Bible and the Media: How LIFE Magazine 'Illustrated' the Psalms twitter:description: Photos and excerpts from the Book of Psalms show how, 50 years ago, one media outlet chose to address the eternally thorny issue of faith. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f158649285d3d37/69884b98cd1bba5f176fadc5/140403-illustrated-psalms-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # When the Bible Meets the Media: How LIFE Magazine 'Illustrated' the Psalms > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk Apr 4, 2014 5:13 PM UTC  Caption from LIFE. When I remember thee upon my bed, / And meditate on thee in the night watches, / because thou hast been my help, / Therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice . . . -- Psalm 63 Caption from LIFE. When I remember thee upon my bed, / And meditate on thee in the night watches, / because thou hast been my help, / Therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice . . . -- Psalm 63 Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) ## Liz Ronk Apr 4, 2014 5:13 PM UTC The recent uproar around Darren Aronofsky’ [_Noah_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/31/movies/noah-floats-to-top-of-the-box-office.html) — driven largely by bickering between the chronically aggrieved “culture warriors” on both the Right and the Left — reminds us that, when it comes to explosive topics, religion blows sex, politics and every other hot-button issue out of the proverbial water. The media, it seems, have a very hard time covering any debate around religion without the conversation quickly being co-opted by the shrillest voices in the room. The _Noah_ hullabaloo, meanwhile, sent us back into our archives to see how a publication that wielded LIFE’s unique influence back in the day might have engaged in the national dialog around religion, in an era when Christianity was the undisputed dominant creed in the land. The Dec. 25, 1964, special double issue of the magazine provided the answer. In close to 150 pages devoted to The Bible (Islam rates exactly one mention in the issue; Judaism a few dozen), LIFE attempts to delineate the Bible’s enduring appeal for untold millions, while legitimately grappling with its uncanny power. “Our age has been haunted by theories of history,” LIFE noted in an introduction to the issue, “and by political theories that appeal to the verdict of history (the thousand-year Reich, the historical dialectic of Communism.)” --- > “” --- In that entire issue, the one article that stood out — to our eyes — as a uniquely LIFE way to approach the Bible was the very last feature in the issue. Titled simply, “In Praise of the Lord,” those handful of pages included color photos made in the Holy Land by Paul Schutzer, along with excerpts from the psalms — a book in [the Bible](http://www.bartleby.com/108/) in which, LIFE noted, “praise to the Creator . . . reaches a height of poetic utterance.” Here, we offer some of Schutzer’s photos, both published and unpublished, as well as excerpts from the psalms — ancient hymns to the silence — that ran alongside the pictures: examples of how, 50 years ago, one media outlet chose to address the eternally thorny issue of faith. _— LIFE.com Editors_  Caption from LIFE. Lord, make me to know mine end, / And the measure of my days, / what is is; that I may know how frail I am. / Behold, thou hast made my days as a handbreath . . . -- Psalm 39 Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. When I remember thee upon my bed, / And meditate on thee in the night watches, / because thou hast been my help, / Therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice . . . -- Psalm 63 Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, / From whence cometh my help . . . -- Psalm 121 Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photographed for a photo feature on the Book of Psalms. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. The heavens declare the glory of God; / And the firmament showeth his handwork . . . -- Psalm 19 Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photographed for a photo feature on the Book of Psalms. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. The Lord is in his holy temple, / The Lord's throne is in heaven . . . -- Psalm 11 Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. The Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. / He maketh them also to skip like a calf . . . -- Psalm 29 Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. The earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works . . . -- Psalm 104 Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photographed for a photo feature on the Book of Psalms. 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