David M. Howard, Jr., Ph.D.The Face of Old Testament StudiesBaker Book HouseMay 1999Recent Trends in Psalms StudyPsalms studies at the end of the twentieth century are very different from what theywere in 1970. There has been a paradigm shift in Biblical studies, whereby texts are nowread as texts, i.e., as literary entities and canonical wholes. This is manifested in Psalmsstudies in several ways, the most important of which is the attention to the Psalter as abook, as a coherent whole. It is also manifested in many literary and structuralapproaches. What might be termed a paradigm shift has also taken place in studies ofHebrew poetry, where linguistic analysis, most especially based on syntax, now occupiesan important—if not dominant—position.As its title suggests, this essay surveys the trends in Psalms studies since 1970, butmore particularly in the last 10–15 years. Constraints of space do not allow for adequatediscussion of the hundreds of books and thousands of articles produced in this period.Unfortunately, neither can we deal with the many works on the popular level, many ofwhich are first-rate works produced by scholars, and which are important in their ownright to the life of the Church and the synagogue. However, what is highlighted are theprevailing trends in the scholarly discussion of the Psalms.The essay begins by reviewing past overviews of Psalms studies, in order toestablish a context for our period since 1970, and then considers developments in fivecategories: (1) The Composition and Message of the Psalter, (2) Hebrew Poetry, (3)Hermeneutics, (4) Form Criticism, and (5) The Psalms in the Context of the Ancient NearEast. It is in these five areas that we find the most activity and change in Psalms studiestoday.PAST OVERVIEWSFor many years, the Book of Psalms occupied a marginal place in Biblical studies.The major emphases in the 19th and early 20th centuries were on historical-criticalapproaches (dominated by the search for hypothetical sources behind—and radicalreconstructions of—the text), and on reconstructions of Israel’s history and the history ofits religion. In the first two volumes on the state of Old Testament scholarshipcommissioned by the Society for Old Testament Study (SOTS), there were no essays onany canonical corpus (e.g., Pentateuch, prophets, Psalms), but rather articles on Hebrewreligion, history, and psychology (The People and the Book [1925]),1 or on the literature,history, religion, theology, and archaeology of Israel (Record and Revelation [1938]).2 1 Arthur S. Peake, ed., The People and the Book (Oxford: Clarendon, 1925).2 H. Wheeler Robinson, ed., Record and Revelation (Oxford: Clarendon, 1938).David M. Howard, Jr.—“Recent Trends in Psalms Study,” in The Face of Old Testament Study—Page 2However, the Psalms played almost no part in any of the essays in any case. Two othersurveys that neglect the Psalms for the most part are The Old Testament in ModernResearch (1954, 1966) and The Bible in Modern Scholarship (1965).3 Commentaries onthe Psalms in this period reflected the concerns mentioned here.4Beginning in the 1920’s, however, with the work of Hermann Gunkel and that ofhis student, Sigmund Mowinckel, the focus in Psalms studies shifted dramatically, andthe discipline gained influence in the larger field of Biblical studies. Gunkel was atowering figure in Old Testament studies (not just the Psalms) who cast his shadow onthe entire century. As the father of Old Testament form criticism, it was he who gave usthe categories of psalms with which we are now so familiar, such as individual laments,communal praises (hymns), royal and wisdom psalms, and the like. His focus was on theliterary forms (i.e., genres) of individual psalms, and he paid attention to the lifesituations (Sitze im Leben) that supposedly gave rise to each form.5Mowinckel’s work followed Gunkel in classifications, but cleared its own way inemphasizing especially the cultic background to almost all the psalms. 6 In his view, themajor festival in Israel was the fall harvest and new-year festival (Tabernacles), thecenterpiece of which was the so-called "Enthronement of Yahweh" festival, one that hereconstructed from clues that he saw in the Psalms.7 Scholarly interest in the history andcontent of Israel’s religion was now indebted to Psalms studies in important ways, as itused the Psalms in its reconstructions.Psalms scholarship has been shaped by the work of Gunkel and Mowinckel eversince. The essays by A. R. Johnson and J. H. Eaton in the next two SOTS volumes (TheOld Testament and Modern Study [1951] and Tradition and Interpretation [1979]) arealmost entirely devoted to studying the forms and the cultic place and significance of thePsalms,8 as are overviews by Ronald E. Clements, John H. Hayes, and Erhard S. 3 J. Philip Hyatt, ed., The Bible in Modern Scholarship (Nashville: Abingdon, 1965); Herbert F. Hahn, TheOld Testament in Modern Research (2nd ed., Philadelphia: Fortress, 1966). The original essay by Hahndates to 1954; the 1966 reprint adds “A Survey of Recent Literature” by Horace D. Hummel; both deal onlyminimally with Psalms under other categories (e.g., “form criticism”). In the Hyatt volume, A. S.Kapelrud’s “The Role of the Cult in Old Israel” (pp. 44–56) deals only briefly with the so-called“enthronement of Yahweh” psalms (pp. 52–53).4 See the works of Ewald (1880); Perowne (1890); Cheyne (1891; 1904); Wellhausen (1898); and Briggs(1906).5 Hermann Gunkel, Die Psalmen, 4th ed. (Göttinger Handkommentar zum Alten Testament Göttingen:Vandenhoeck und Rupprecht, 1926); Hermann Gunkel and J. Begrich, Introduction to the Psalms: TheGenres of the Religious Lyric of Israel, trans. J. D. Nogalski (Macon: Mercer University Press, 1998[German original: 1933]).6 Sigmund O. P. Mowinckel, Psalmenstudien, 6 vols. (Kristiana [Oslo]: Jacob Dybwad, 1921–24); idem,The Psalms in Israel's Worship, 2 vols. (Nashville: Abingdon, 1962; reprinted with a foreword by R. K.Gnuse and D. A. Knight: Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1992).7 See Psalmenstudien II: Das Thronbesteigungfest Jahwäs und der Ursprung der Eschatologie (1922); ThePsalms in Israel's Worship, II, pp. 106–92.8 A. R. Johnson, “The Psalms,” in H. H. Rowley, ed., The Old Testament and Modern Study (Oxford:Clarendon, 1951): 162–209; J. H. Eaton, “The Psalms in Israelite Worship,” in G. W. Anderson, ed.,Tradition and Interpretation (Oxford: Clarendon,