The Writings: Psalms

Abstract

The WritingsPsalms Christopher T. Begg, Fred W. Guyette, Frederick E. Greenspahn, and William J. Urbrock 1741. [Psalms; ANE] Erhard Gerstenberger, "The Power of Praise in the Psalter. Human–Divine Synergies in the Ancient Near East and the Hebrew Scriptures," Israelite Religion and Old Testament Theology, 31-48 [see #2016]. In his essay, G. draws on ANE comparative evidence in exploring the presence in the Psalter of "old liturgical exaltations of the divine." More particularly, he uses Mesopotamian praise texts to develop a redefinition of the function of praise, i.e., as a force emitted to preserve or elevate the status of the one praised. Accordingly, in the Psalter, ongoing praise serves to uphold the lordship of the creator. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] 1742. [Psalms] Egbert Ballhorn, "Der Psalter als Haus der Stimmen: Heteroglossie als Schlüssel zu einer christlichen Lektüre der Psalmen," BZ N.S. 61 (2017) 1-23. The Psalms were composed by and for non-Christians. With what right then do Christians read and recite the psalms as "their" Christian texts? For B., the legitimacy and condition of possibility for their doing so are grounded in a feature of the psalms which he designates with a term coined by M. Bakhtin and used by him in reference to the novel genre; i.e., the psalms feature not one single, all-dominant voice ("monoglossia") but rather a plethora of voices: those of the human pray-er(s), that of the pray-er's enemies, and that of God himself, along with the voice of the psalms' authors who present the words of the voices in a given psalm to an audience. This pluri-vocal character of the psalms, of itself, invites others—including Jesus and subsequent Christians—to add their own voices to those of the psalms' speakers, thereby expanding the Psalter's "house of voices," and enriching it with still other levels of meaning, in a way, however, that does not negate or seek to supersede Jewish readings of the psalms.—C.T.B. 1743. [Psalms] Larry W. Hurtado, "Early Christological Interpretation of the Messianic Psalms," Salm 64 (2017) 73-100. The use of the Psalms in the NT reflects developments in the Second Temple Jewish tradition within which the early Jesus movement arose. These developments involved, e.g., the recognition of the Psalms as Scripture, the "Davidization" of a "book" of Psalms, and the view of David as endowed with prophetic inspiration, thus making the Psalms predictive of divine mysteries. At the same time, comparison of the use of particular psalms in the NT with their use in other Second Temple Jewish writings reveals a distinctive pattern and interpretation in the former that must reflect the novel experiences and convictions of the early Jesus movement. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] [End Page 573] 1744. [Psalms] John Olley, "Psalms: A Songbook for Post-Christendom," Colloq 47 (2015) 62-74. This article contends that interpreting the Psalter as a "post-David-dom," intentionally arranged collection, with continuing relevance for Jews, has particular relevance also for Christian life and worship today in settings that can broadly be described as "post-Christendom," as well as in countries which never had strong Christian influence and where Christians have never known political power and prestige. In writing for an interdisciplinary readership, I review various features of the Book of Psalms in its present canonical form that spoke to the postexilic situation of Jews, offering them transforming and sustaining perspectives that enabled them to look forward in faithful hope, beyond the end of "David-dom." The ordered totality of the book gave enhanced meaning to its individual psalms: cries, arising from the conflicts and injustices of everyday life where God seemed inactive, are placed alongside praises that run counter to the all-pervading ideology of the dominant empire of the day. These are affirmations of hope because God is King over all nations and the time will come when this will be recognized by all people. On this basis, I then proceed to offer proposals for the relevance of this understanding of the Psalter for Christians today, based in...