Title B 223.2_New Approaches to the Study of the Psalms (Zenger).pdf ✅

38 PROCEEDINCìS OI-'TI W. IRISII B1131JCAI, ASSOCIA nON juxtaposed" is fully justificd if one has regard to the commentaries of the present century. Admittedly. comprehensive points of vicw are not totallv absent even in the study of the psalms. They appear mainly under two aspects. On the one hand an cffort was always made in the interprctation of the Korah-psalms, the Asaph-psalms and the Pilgrimage-psalms to adduce thc theological concept underlying the relevant group as corroboration of the interpreting of the individuai psalms within the group. And on the other hand, in intcrprcting an individuaI psalm one emphasiscd its adherence to a specific geme, conscquently seeking the spccial profile of the psalm in the specific realization of the typepattern - in line with the Form Criticism (Gattungsforschung) introduccd by Hermann Gunkel and Sigmund Mowinckel. Pushed to its extreme this would lead to the practice whereby psalm commentaries in commenting on thc psalrns would go so far as to surrender even the sequence pregiven in the biblical psalter, preferring to rearrange the psalms according to Form Criticism. Examples of this rearrangement, inspired by Form Criticism, leading to a "new order", are the commentaries of Willy Staerk el911 21920) and Giorgio Castellino (1955). In Willy Staerk's comrncntary on the psalms which appeared in the series "Die Schriften des Alten Testamcnts", he divides the psalms into three groups: "Hymns" (with subdivisions: "Liturgical Songs of Praise" and "Spiritual Songs of Praise"), "Pravcrs" (with subdivisions: "Pravers of Thanksgiving" and "lntercessory Prayers'') and "Songs" (with subdi~sions: "Spiritual Poctry" and "Didactic Songs") and it is in this order that he comments on them. He gives a summary justification of his procedure as follows: "in my opinion il is the right and duty of the exegete of the psalms to counteract the lack of intrinsic structure of the total volume of material by providing a suitable ordering principle. What is normally due and doubtlessly justificd defcrencc to thc form in which the biblical litcrature has been handed down must in this special case recede in the interest of our task which is to bring to life the word of the Bible in such a way as to answer the needs of our time. In a biblieal studv intended for a wider readership it can easily happen that something which might be tolerated in a scientific cornrnentary is here perccivcd as disturbing. We have arrangcd the psalms according to literary-historical types"." Rudolf Kittel engaged in an explicit polemic against this manner of proceding in his cornrnentary on the psalms which first appeared in the series "KAT" in 1914: "It would seem logical ... to explain together intrinsically rclated songs and accordingly to arrange the Psalms according to psalm classes. Stark [sicl] has chosen this method. The procedure has the great advantagc that the mutuaI relatcdness of certain songs becomes 3 W.Zimmerli, Zwillingspsalmen 111. 4 W.Staerk, Lyrik (Psalmen, Hoheslied und Verwandtes), Gottingen21920, 13*. NEW APPROAClIES TO TIIE STUDY OF TIfi: PSALMS 39 evident to the reader with particular clarity. But its disadvantages on the other hand are unrnistakable. as the splittering of the whole into some 40 groups demonstrates in St's commentary, to such an extent that l could not decide to abandon the sequence of the masoretic text". 5 Giorgio Castellino has the following to say regarding his own procedure of eommenting on the Psalms arranged according to perspectives suggested by Gattungsgeschichte in the series "La Sacra Bibbia ": "Alla successione più o meno casuale del Salterio si è perferito un ordine che tenesse conto del genere letterario. Le due categorie fondamentali di lamentazioni e di inni sono suddivise in gruppi minori secondo il criterio della struttura c la destinazione dei salmi. Lo studio per gruppi avendo giovato a noi nella preparazione del commento, si è pensato che potesse tornare utile anche al lettore .0 allo studioso. Si evitano tra l'altro ripetizioni, e i salmi analoghi raccolti nella stessa cornice diventano più perspicui, illustrandosi e chiarendosi a vicenda. Anche la Chiesa nella sua liturgia è guidata, in parte almeno, nell'assegnare i salmi alle varie feste, dal criterio del contenuto. 116 How prevalent even yet today in the exegesis of Psalms is the Formen- u~d Gattungs~itik, pioneered by Hermann Gunkel and modificd by Sigmund Mowinckel, can be gathercd without much difficultv from the current textbooks in the area of "Introduction to the Old Testament" and from encyclopacdia articles on the "Psalms" which arrange these and find a key to their exegesis in pursuing the perspectives of Form Criticism. Joachim Becker, when publishing his review study "Wege der Psalmenexegese" in 1975 made the lapidary remark: "We are starting with the method of Form Criticism because it must be regardcd as the fundamental method of exegesis of the psalms".' And similarly P. H. A. Neumann, in introducing his research survey of psalm rasearch "Zur neueren Psalmenforschung" which appearcd in 1976 explains: "There is hardly any alternative today other than the understanding of the psalrns deriving from Form Criticism. It starts with Hermann Gunkel ... ,,8 Whilst Herrnann Gunkel's Form Criticism approach stilI essentially deterrnines the recently publishcd psalm commentaries in the series "Word Biblical Commentary" (P. Craigie, M. Tate, L. Allen) and the part volume by E. F. Gerstenberger (1988) published in thc series "F.O.T.L", H.-l Kraus has on the other hand partially revised the mcthod in the fifth edition of his massive commentary on the psalms to the extent that he substitutes for Gunkel's delineation of types concepts occurring in the OT itself, not that this however might be allowcd to change the commentary itself. 2. Limits and Problems of the Form-Critical Approach 5 R.Kittel,Die Psalmen (KAT 13), Leipzig 1914,XXXIX. 6 G.Clli>1ellino,Libro dei Salmi (La Sacra Biblia), Turin 1955,V. 7 J.Becker, Wege der Psalmenexegese (SBS 78), Stuttgart 1975, 12. 8 P.H.A.Newnann, Zur neueren Psalmerforschung, Dannstadt 1976(WdF 1(2),2.

42 PROCEEDINGS OF"I1IE fRISI! BrBLlCAI, ASSOCIATION his essay entitIed "Thc Psalms" and published for the first time in 1911 with the conclusion: "The last impression we get of the poctry of the psalms shortly before its demise is as follows: grcat originai creations are no longer produced, the poems move increasingly along well travelled lines. The types o,:crlap increasingly, thc reflection saturatcs everything. In this ma~ner Ilslowly approaches its end". 14 As regards the more recent psalms which no longer conform to the usual "type" pattcrns and which above ali lack a liturgical "Sitz im Lebcn", S. Mowinckel, with his idea of "learncd psalrnography"" , has shown the correct way to proceed. In these "post liturgical" psalms learned theology is to be found which reflects on and syste!llatiz~s t~le traditions. Such psalmistic theology is also present at a certam pomt m the Torah and the Nebiim (Gcn 49; Ex 15: Dtn 32-33; Judges 5; l SamZ, 22-23; ls 12; Micah 7 etc.). 16 Such "psalmistic theology" ~s also present m the psalter itself, i.e. in rccent psalrns which expressly intend to form a synthesis. This phenomoncm has been overlookcd by form criticai exegesis. (5) Form Criticism with its fixation on the type of psalms has shown little interest in the psalter as a whole. The approach is not methodologically capable of cxplaining the process of composition that proceeds from individuai psalms to small collections, and then to the c~isting psalter. H. Gunkel saw that clearly when he notcd from the point of view of Form Criticism that "no instrinic order among the psalms as a whole has. been handcd down to us". He held that indeed occasionally psal!lls which were related from the point of view of type would stand sidc by side; nevertheless as a mie it would be true that in the sequence of the psalms "not a single psalm agrecs with another from the point of view of type''." . ~v~n in the case of the psalm collections which probably have their ongm m a commom liturgical "Sitz im Lcben" such as the Korah psalms, Asaph psalms and pilgrimage psalms it is not possible to explain with the help of the form- criticai approach how and why it carne to this particu/ar sequenc~. And a!'<>veali the "gattungsgeschichte" psalm excgesis sccms to have no I~terest m the question of how thcse collections carne to occupy the piace which they now occupy within the psalter. lf one is not satisfied with a simple "non liquet" new ways must be found / or old ways must be reactivated. 3. New methodological orienfations in Psalm exegesis. 14 H.Gunkcl, Die Psalmen, in: Reden untiAifsaue, Gottingen 1913, 122. 15 S.Mowinkel, The Psalms in Israel's Worship, Oxford 1962, II, l04ff 16 Cf HP.Mathys, Dichter unti Beter. Theologen aus spatalttestamentlicher Zeit (OBO 132), Fribourg/Gottingen 1994, 125-229. 17 H.Gunkel/J.Begrich, Einleitung 3. I NEW APPROACI rES TO TI n: STlIDY OF rm: PSALMS 43 If 1 sce matters corrcctly new methodological oricntation of psalm excgesis is at this momcnt in progresso and that on two scorcs: firstly the individuai psalms arc incrcasingly secn as individuai works of art. Poctic analaysis has recoursc to thc approaehes of structural Iiterary scicncc, of aesthctic theorv of stylc and rhctoric, of thc thcory of spccch acts, and also indccd to thcmatic and symbolic rescarch in ordcr lo grasp the differcnt structurcs of imagc and communication of thc psalms in thc most precise manncr possible. These cfforts are oftcn combincd with thc agenda of close rcading associated with the so-callcd "final-text excgesis" which seeks to rccover thc seriousncss of thc end form of thc tcxt as distinct from historical criticaI exegesis which prefers as a rule to attach more importance lo the first or more originaI form of the text. On the other hand one notices an incrcasing interest in psalm excgesis from thc point of view of rcdaction history. It is evident herc that thc literary historical refinemcnt in traditional psalm exegesis which is possible when dealing with individuai psalms is questioned and criticiscd with a view to the issue whether in the earlier text clemcnts which were thought to be additions, whether these are not capable of being so reconstructed that the theological agenda of these stages of growth and the groups that support them may become visible. This effort is combined with the project of holistic and canonical reading i.e. with the question regarding the significance for thc interpretation of an individuaI psalm, its respcctive position in thc psaltcr or indeed within the whole biblical canon. Accordingly one has increasingly recourse today to observations which commentators like E.W. Hengstenberg and Franz Delitzsch made in thc last century and one develops them further with the help of new lines of questioning. lt is not howcver a question of synchronic reading refinement which dispenscs with historical refinement but rather of a diachronicaIly reflected synchronic reading. Three lines of questioning are particularly relevant: (1) One pays attention to the connections between adjacent psalms as exprcsscd in the headings, in order to see whether such thematic and linguistic common ground is merely a matter of chance or whether it was the reason for juxtaposing the psalrns in a certain sequence, "whether finalIy one must reckon with an influence of one psalm on anothcr in the process of its arrangement within the context of the book"!" and whether the individuai psalms which were deliberatIy linkcd with each other from the point of view of composition are intended to interpret each other. The deliberate combination of psalms by means of keywords (concatenatio) which are rccognisable above all by rcference to the opening or ending of consecutive psalms offers a subtIe connection by association and meaning which thc reflective reader may further deepen. 18 W.Zimmerli, Zwillingspsalmen 106.