Studies on Psalms. 18 vols. (Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies | LHBOTS)

by Martin Ravndal Hauge; Craig C. Broyles; Harry P. Nasuti; Carleen Mandolfo

and

12 more

Publisher:

Sheffield Academic Press

, 1982–2002

Overview

The Psalms have been used as a source of spiritual refreshment and private devotion, as well as part of public worship, by both Jewish and Christian believers throughout the centuries. For many, they have been a treasury of faith to be drawn on in every situation in life, giving expression to every mood of the believer—from despair to serenity. They have also been taken by many as models of prayer and paraphrased in many hymns. Such use of the Psalms has often been selective: particular Psalms have been chosen as models because they have been thought to express particular articles of belief, or because they embody particular religious emotions.

Studies on Psalms contains 18 volumes of scholarship on the Psalms from today’s top Old Testament scholars. Some contributors, such as Norman Whybray, treat the Psalms—or groups of Psalms, such as the Psalms of lament—collectively, and examine the book of Psalms as a whole. Others, such as Donald K. Berry in his study of Psalm 18, examine individual Psalms in great detail. Together, this collection represents an important source of scholarly—yet accessible—study of the Psalms. Studies on Psalms will enrich your understanding of the Psalms, whether you preach regularly on the Psalms, use the Psalms in corporate worship, or simply want to study in greater depth some of the most honest expressions of praise, petition, and lament.

With the Logos Bible Software edition, all Scripture references are linked to the original language texts and the English Bibles in your library. By employing the advanced search features in Logos, you can find the exact topics, Scripture references, and subjects you’re looking for. With Logos, every word is essentially a link. All references to the text of the Psalms are automatically linked to Hebrew texts and English Bible translations. Clicking on any word in any language opens your preferred dictionary and automatically locates the exact entry you’re looking for. That makes the Logos edition the most accurate and efficient way to study the Psalms for preaching, research, or personal study.

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Key Features

• In-depth studies of particular Psalms
• Contributions by Norman Whybray, Walter Brueggemann, and other top scholars
• All Scripture references linked to Hebrew texts and English Bible translations in your library

Product Details

• Title: Studies on Psalms
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Volumes: 18
• Pages: 4,359

Between Sheol and Temple: Motif Structure and Function in the I-Psalms

• Author: Martin Ravndal Hauge
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 1995
• Pages: 314

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

As against traditional cultic and sociological interpretations of the “I” Psalms, this original study stresses the “I” as a literary figure. Yet on the other hand, the historical interest of the traditional models is retained, here with emphasis on original function and intent. There is a common set of central motifs related to the “I”-figure, most easily discernible when referring to categories of locality. The “I” is depicted in a sacred landscape of contrasting localities—Sheol and Temple connected by the concept of Way. This motif structure deploys an ideological language in which the “I” figure is an embodiment of a religious paradigm, that attests a process of actualization and integration. The religiosity of these texts is of a mystical character, pointing to some religious practice of intense personal character aimed at experience of a divine reality. No doubt the social location of such experience was among the elite, but some texts hint at a possible democratization of the religious practice they portray.

Martin Ravndal Hauge teaches in the Institute of Biblical Studies at the University of Oslo.

Conflict of Faith and Experience in the Psalms: A Form-Critical and Theological Study

• Author: Craig C. Broyles
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 1989
• Pages: 272

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The importance of the Psalms as a testimony of the faith of ancient Israel needs little argument. But how can we open a way into this corpus of ancient poetry, which is so significant for understanding Israel’s faith? The quest for the meaning of the Psalms demands not just “What?” but also “Why?” In this volume, Broyles examines Psalms of lament, Psalms of complaint, and the distress expressed in the Psalms.

Craig C. Broyles is Professor of Religious Studies at Trinity Western University.

Defining the Sacred Songs: Genre, Tradition, and the Post-Critical Interpretation of the Psalms

• Author: Harry P. Nasuti
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 2009
• Pages: 231

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

At a time when the focus of Psalms research has increasingly shifted from the form-critical concerns of Hermann Gunkel and his followers, Defining the Sacred Songs argues for the continued importance of genre as an interpretative category in the post-critical era. Drawing on insights from the Psalms' long interpretative tradition, Nasuti is able to bring a fresh perspective on the role that the genre definition of these texts plays in both contemporary scholarship and the life of the communities that use them. The result is a better appreciation of the peculiar power of the Psalms and a new understanding of the nature of genre analysis in modern biblical studies.

This is a stimulating attempt at revising the content and usefulness of form critical interpretation in a post-Gunkel era.

—Theological Book Review

Harry Nasuti is Professor of Biblical Studies, Fordham University, Bronx, New York.

God in the Dock: Dialogic Tension in the Psalms of Lament

• Author: Carleen Mandolfo
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 2003
• Pages: 232

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This book examines the dialogic structure of biblical Psalms of lament. Observations about voicing are developed out of the work of Mikhail Bakhtin, and are utilized to reevaluate the theological expression of lament psalms as well as components of Israel's rhetorical relationship with its deity. What emerges is a theology that gives voice to the tension that existed between faith in a god who practices flawless "hesed," or covenantal loyalty, and the experience of God's failure to uphold his side of the bargain.

Carleen Mandolfo is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Colby College, Waterville, Maine.

The Identity of the Individual in the Psalms

• Author: Steven J. L. Croft
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 1987
• Pages: 224

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In over 90 of the 150 Psalms, the voice of the individual—an “I”—is heard. The person who reads or sings or prays through the Psalms today wants and needs an answer to a very natural question: Who is the “I”? The aim of The Identity of the Individual in the Psalms is to investigate the problem of the identity of the individual in the Psalms in as full a way as possible.

Steven J. L. Croft is the Bishop of Sheffield. He is a well-known scholar of the Bible and missions and a prolific author.

Message of the Psalter: An Eschatological Programme in the Book of Psalms

• Author: David C. Mitchell
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 1999
• Pages: 414

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This volume is a contribution to the contemporary debate on the purpose of the Psalms in the Bible. In it, David Mitchell maintains that the Psalms contain a clear and purposeful order and a discernable record of eschatological events—Israel in exile, the appearance of a Messiah, the gathering of Israel, conflicts among nations, suffering, the scattering of Israel in the wilderness, the establishment of Zion, and the prosperity of Israel. Mitchell explores these themes and more in considerable detail. Beginning with a detailed review of the history of the interpretation of the Psalms, he examines the Psalms of Asaph, the Songs of Ascents, the Messiah in the Psalms, and other eschatological themes in Psalms.

David C. Mitchell is a theologian and a musician. In addition to The Message of the Psalter, he has written extensively on the Psalms.

Psalm and Story: Inset Hymns in Hebrew Narrative

• Author: James W. Watts
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 2009
• Pages: 244

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This book addresses the literary, historical and methodological issues which have been raised by the appearance of psalms in narrative contexts of the Hebrew Bible. The narrative role of each psalm is explored to determine the reasons for its present position. The study of each psalm's narrative role leads to a re-evaluation of the evidence for its secondary status in the prose context. The results of each separate analysis are compared to see what larger literary, historical and methodological patterns emerge.

James Watts is Associate Professor of Religion at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York.

Psalm Structures: A Study of Psalms with Refrains

• Author: Paul R. Raabe
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 2009
• Pages: 219

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This study identifies and describes the basic building blocks of a biblical psalm: the levels of colon, verse, strophe and stanza. In this study eleven psalms have been chosen with stanzas that are clearly demarcated by the presence of refrains. Seven of these are analyzed thoroughly (Psalms 42–43, 46, 49, 56, 57, 59) and another four more briefly (Psalms 39, 67, 80, 99). This is a timely and closely argued statement of the importance of integrating structure and content in one's interpretation of a psalm.

Paul R. Raabe is Professor of Exegetical Theology at Concordia Seminary.

Psalms and their Readers: Interpretive Strategies for Psalm 18

• Author: Donald K. Berry
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 2009
• Pages: 160

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

A reader-oriented approach provides a substantially new angle of vision on Psalm 18 and Psalms study in general. Reader-based interpretation is compared to conventional methodologies by means of four separate analyses of Psalm 18: a textual study, a form-critical explication, a rhetorical study, and an experimental reader-oriented study involving the following strategies. Initially, the components of the text are considered as networks of signals for the reader. Secondly, the text's speech acts are isolated and typified. Thirdly, the ancient and contemporary contexts for the reading of the psalm are examined.

The reader-oriented study culminates in two perspectives upon Psalm 18. The psalm may be read as a ritual speech act performed by the community of ancient worshippers, or as a lyric poem that each contemporary reader experiences by identification with the speaker. The concluding chapter reviews each of the methodologies, evaluating strengths and weaknesses, as well as interrelationships among methods.

Donald K. Berry is Associate Professor of Religion at the University of Mobile.

Psalms in the Early Irish Church

• Author: Martin J. McNamara
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 2000
• Pages: 165

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

A creative, independent, Irish exegetical tradition was well established by the year 700, influencing Northumbria but not Continental Europe. This book contains eight studies by the distinguished Irish biblical scholar, Martin McNamara, which he has published over the past twenty-five years, on the Latin biblical texts (Vulgate, Gallicanum and Jerome's Hebraicum) of the Psalter and commentaries on it in Ireland from 600 onwards. The oldest Irish Vulgate text, the Cathach of St. Columba of Iona (died 597), shows signs of correction against the Irish recension of the Hebrew text. The central exegetical tradition is strongly Antiochene, being dependent on the commentary of Theodore of Mopsuestia (in Julian's translation), while another branch understands the Psalms as principally about David, rather than Christologically or as about later Jewish history.

Martin McNamara is Emeritus Professor of Scripture at Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy, Dublin.

Psalms of Asaph and the Pentateuch: Studies in the Psalter

• Author: Michael D. Goulder
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 1996
• Pages: 378

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The Asaph psalms (50, 73–83) are a unity. They often call God “Elohim” and “El,” and the people “Joseph,” as Amos does; they appeal to Israelite history, the exodus and the covenant; they are written in the face of military catastrophe. In this suggestive and brilliant work, Goulder argues that they were composed in Bethel in the 720s for use as the psalmody for the autumn festival. This gives us vital new evidence for the history of the Pentateuch: there was at Bethel a historical tradition from at least the time of the oppression in Egypt to the Solomonic Empire; the Asaphites took this tradition to Jerusalem and their descendants were the Deuteronomists.

Michael Goulder is Emeritus Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Birmingham.

Psalms of the Return (Book V, Psalms 107–150): Studies in the Psalter

• Author: Michael D. Goulder
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 1998
• Pages: 352

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Book V of the Psalter (Psalms 107–150) divides into three, with the Songs of the Ascents (120–134) as the central section, and the first and third units following parallel structures (historical, Davidic, alphabetical, Hallel psalms). The units are all compositions of the Return period: 107–119 for the reconstruction of the Temple, 120–134 for Nehemiah's wall-building, 135–150 for Ezra's mission. Psalms 120–134 follow the episodes of Nehemiah's “memoir,” in order. All three groups show evidence of evening-morning alternation, and were intended for festal use: 107–118 at the Passover of Ezra 6, 120–134 at the Tabernacles of Nehemiah 12, 135–150 at Ezra's Tabernacles (Neh. 8).

Michael Goulder is Emeritus Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Birmingham.

The Psalms of the Sons of Korah

• Author: Michael D. Goulder
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 1983
• Pages: 302

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Disagreement on the interpretation of the Psalms, of which there are many, arise in large part from their apparent lack of context. Should they be treated as individual units? Or read together? In this brilliant study, Michael D. Goulder treats the Psalms contextually, examining, in particular, the Psalms of the Sons of Korah.

Michael Goulder is Emeritus Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Birmingham.

Psalms of the Way and the Kingdom: A Conference with the Commentators

• Author: John H. Eaton
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 2009
• Pages: 120

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

John Eaton, well known for his Psalms commentary, here offers a new model of commentary-writing. The Psalms treated are those exalting God's Torah (Psalms 1, 19, 119) and those proclaiming his kingship (93, 97, 99). A detailed examination is made of the treatment of these psalms by selected exegetes from Delitzsch to the present. General conclusions are then drawn for such questions as dating, text, unity, meaning, piety, theology, and relation to prophecy. Both groups of psalms are found to contain great riches of religious insight and experience, which exegetes have rarely come within range of appreciating. Several important interpreters are only superficially known outside their own language group; the present study seeks to remedy this.

John H. Eaton lectured in Old Testament at the University of Birmingham until his retirement. He is the author of many books, especially on aspects of the Psalms.

Reading the Psalms as a Book

• Author: Norman Whybray
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 1999
• Pages: 184

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The Psalms have been used as a source of spiritual refreshment and private devotion, as well as part of public worship, by both Jewish and Christian believers throughout the centuries. For many, they have been a treasury of faith to be drawn on in every situation in life, giving expression to every mood of the believer—from despair to serenity. They have also been taken by many as models of prayer and paraphrased in many hymns. Such use of the Psalms has often been selective: particular Psalms have been chosen as models because they have been thought to express particular articles of belief, or because they embody particular religious emotions.

One of the most significant ways in which the Psalter has been used and is still used today is the practice of reading or reciting it, for purposes of meditation, consecutively, from beginning to end. In doing this, readers find themselves caught up in worship, not merely into moods, but successively into a variety of moods. This book by Norman Whybray explores the meaning of the Psalms as a whole—as a complete book to be read, learned from, and studied collectively.

R. Norman Whybray was Emeritus Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Studies at the Univeristy of Hull before his death in 1997. He is also the author of The Good Life in the Old Testament and The Making of the Pentateuch: A Methodological Study.

The Shape and Message of Book III (Psalms 73–89)

• Author: Robert L. Cole
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 2000
• Pages: 262

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This study of Book III of the Psalter examines evidence for the canonical organization of these seventeen psalms and finds cohesive links that create a consistent and coherent dialogue throughout. Continual laments by a righteous individual on behalf of and in concert with the nation spring from the non-fulfillment of hopes raised in Psalm 72 at the end of Book II. Divine answers give reasons for the continuing desolation but assure the eventual establishment of a kingdom without specifying its time. Book III ends as it began, asking how long God's wrath will smolder, and in response, Book IV opens with Psalm 90 contrasting human and divine perspectives on time.

Robert Cole is an adjunct professor at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, California.

Shape and Shaping of the Psalter

• Author: J. Clinton McCann, Jr.
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 2009
• Pages: 130

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The nine essays in this volume originated in the discussions of the Psalms program unit of the Society of Biblical Literature and a number were first presented as papers at the SBL meetings in 1989 and 1990. The volume documents the growing interest among scholars in understanding the book of Psalms not only as a collection of liturgical materials from ancient Israel and Judah but also as a coherent literary whole.

Part I considers the nature and significance of this new approach; it contains essays by J. L. Mays, Roland E. Murphy, Walter Brueggemann, Gerald H. Wilson and David M. Howard, Jr. Part II illustrates the application of this approach and offers preliminary conclusions concerning the shape of the Psalter and its component books; it contains essays by Gerald H. Wilson, Patrick D. Miller, Jr, J. Clinton McCann, Jr. and David M. Howard, Jr..

J. Clinton McCann is Evangelical Professor of Biblical Interpretation at Eden Theological Seminary.

Yahweh as Refuge and the Editing of the Hebrew Psalter

• Author: Jerome F. D. Creach
• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Publication Date: 1996
• Pages: 156

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The choice of Yahweh as refuge makes a unique and creative contribution to an emerging direction in Psalms study: the shape and shaping of the Psalter. Building especially on the work of Gerald Wilson, James Mays, Klaus Seybold and Gerald Sheppard, Creach provides an abundance of helpful data and advances the discussion significantly with his judicious interpretation of the root hsh (“to seek refuge”) and related Hebrew roots. He shows that the arrangement of Psalms 2–89 reflects an editorial interest in which ideas expressed by the hsh field are a foil for complaints of being cast off by Yahweh and that ideas expressed by the hsh field are also among the primary motifs in Psalms 90–106.

Jerome Creach is Assistant Professor of Religion at Barton College, Wilson, North Carolina.