Psalms Book-Opening Pages

2020

2015

This is the original ms of the abbreviated version of the essay that appeared as “The Poetry of the Psalms” in The Oxford Handbook on the Psalms (ed. W. P. Brown; Oxford: Oxford University, 2014), 79-98. Ms dates from 2012.

OTE 29 (2016) 378–380 (English, cf. pdf) / AfeT Rezensionen 05 (2017) (German, cf. link)

Trinity Journal 42:1, 2021

In Discovering the Psalms, Jerome Creach adheres to the purpose of Eerdmans's Discovering Biblical Text series: To provide a comprehensive, upto-date, and student-friendly introduction to the Psalms that emphasizes content, structure, theology, interpretive debates, and major turning points through its reception history. The book's main body consists of ten chapters divided into three parts: Part One covers Issues in Reading the Psalms and the Psalter, Part Two looks at Reading the Psalms Together, and Part Three develops The Psalms as Prayers. It also includes a brief introduction titled The role of the Psalms in the life of the Church and a brief conclusion titled The Psalms and Jesus Christ. The author writes from the perspective of a Christian biblical scholar and is concerned with reading the Psalms as "Christian Scripture" (p. 5). Chapter 1 ("What is a psalm?") provides a general introduction to basic features of the Psalms, such as the general structure of the division of the Psalms into five books, each closing with doxologies, with Pss 1-2 serving as an introduction and Pss 146-50 as a conclusion. The author writes, "The arrangement of the psalms is one key to the meaning and purpose of its individual parts, and as a whole, the book has a meaning that transcends its parts (p. 24). Chapter 2 ("It's poetry!") deals with poetic features, such as progress in the study of parallelism and an introductory discussion of "the LORD is king" and "refuge" as metaphors in the Psalms. Chapter 3 ("Did David write the Psalms?") deals with the perennial question of authorship and its complexity. The author affirms, questions, and clarifies what Davidic authorship is and is not for the Psalms. He espouses "the Levites" as a group to be a more likely candidate for the authorship and compilation of the Psalms, a group who looked upon David as a "prime example of how to pray in times of trouble" (p. 58). Creach maintains that the link between David and the Psalter is an essential theological connection (pp. 59-60). Chapter 4 ("A Psalm for every occasion: types of psalms") surveys the Psalms as a genre and the developments therein following a discussion of Gunkel, and it affirms the limits of genre labels, noting that often psalms combine features of more than one genre (p. 79). Chapter 5 ("Settings for the performance of the Psalms") acknowledges Gunkel's insight that the Psalms originated in an Israelite worship setting or the cult, which at face value, though having complex understandings among authors, shows that psalms "grew out of real-life problems and celebrations" (p. 80). The author notably argues that the proposed setting for Israelite worship is not decisive and reliable for interpreting the Psalms, given that "Israelite worship underwent changes as the Israelites reread and re-used" the Psalms (pp. 96-97). This concludes Part One of the book, paving the way for a new direction in the study of the Psalms, focusing on its present form and function within an immediate literary context, especially in reading the Psalter as a whole. The second part envisages the Psalter as a book with "a theologically significant 'shape' that provides a context in which to read and interpret individual psalms" (p. 102). This new direction in the study of the Psalms affirms that "as the various psalms came together to form the present book, they took on a different context from their original context in Israel's cult" (p. 102). Chapter 6 ("Going by the book: The Psalter as a guide to reading the psalms") provides justification and elaboration for reading the Psalms together. This includes textual evidence for coherence and further elaboration

Bulletin for Biblical Research, 2020

Studies in the Psalms, 1911

JOSEPH BRYANT ROTHERHAM - STUDIES IN THE PSALMS, TRANSLATOR OF " THE EMPHASISED BIBLE." LONDON : H. R. ALLENSON, Ltd., Racquet Court, Fleet Street, E.C. J. GEORGE ROTHERHAM, 29, Ardoch Road, Catford, S.E. 1911.

The Psalm Project Discovering the Spiritual World through the Psalms - Psalm 10

The Psalms Project Discovering the Spiritual World through the Psalms - Psalm Six

The Psalm Project Discovering the Spiritual World through the Psalms - Psalm Seven