Personal piety in the study of the psalms

Thesis

The predominant view in psalmic studies holds that the appropriate context for the interpretation of the psalms is the Israelite cult. By contrast, this thesis demonstrates that insufficient attention has been paid to the personal insights and life-experiences of the psalmists themselves. If one view is cult-centred, this approach is life-centred.

The first chapter reviews psalmic studies over the last century in order to place the cult-functional approach in its own cultural setting. The second chapter examines the confessions of Jeremiah, and shows that these are best understood as genuine personal prayers which use psalmic language and forms. This opens up the possibility that the psalms themselves are expressions of personal piety, which have used and adapted the traditional liturgical conventions of the day.

The remaining six chapters assess the extent to which the psalms might be understood in this way. Six characteristics of personal piety are selected. These are trust in God, penitence before God, reflections on death and life with God, communion with God, suffering before God and pleasing God. They combine to show that the universal validity of the Psalter is due as much to the way the psalmists speak of common life-experiences, as to the way the psalms have been composed as repeatable cultic texts.

The thesis concludes that because the cult-centred approach has been so concerned with the cultic functions of the psalms, it has failed to appreciate the personal contributions of the psalmists, and in so doing has often misinterpreted the primary purpose of a psalm. A life-centred reading of the Psalter is therefore a vital component in correcting this imbalance in psalmic studies today.

Authors: Gillingham, S; Gillingham, Susan

• Alternative title: a reassessment
• Publication date: 1987
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-ozqpa86e4
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Subjects: History and criticism; Piety in literature; Hebrew poetry, Biblical; Criticism, interpretation, etc