Jewish and Christian Approaches to the Psalms

The Psalms have resulted in controversies between Jews and Christians over the centuries and it is only from the mid twentieth century onwards that the two traditions have worked side by side in the academy at least. This is one of the very few volumes on the psalms to incorporate scholarship from both these traditions for nearly a century, and the result is a rich celebration of these extraordinary ancient songs. This innovative essay collection draws together internationally renowned Jewish and Christian scholars of the Psalms, with one tradition responding to the other, in areas as diverse as Qumran studies, Medieval Jewish interpretation, Reception History, Liturgical Psalters and Chagall's Church Windows and more recent Literary Studies of the Psalter as a Book. The range of topics chosen will be of interest not only to those specializing in the Psalms but also to others interested more generally in biblical studies. Several musical and artistic representations of selected psalms are also included and the book includes a colour plate section which illustrates several of the chapters.Introduction ; I: JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN APPROACHES TO THE PSALMS ; 1. The Dead Sea Psalms Scrolls. Psalms Manuscripts, Editions, and the Oxford Hebrew Bible ; 2. Reflections on the Canon and the Text of the Bible in response to Peter Flint ; 3. Medieval Answers to Modern Questions. Medieval Jewish Interpreters of Psalms ; 4. Medieval Psalms Exegesis as a Challenge to Modern Exegesis: A Response to Adele Berlin ; 5. The Reception of Psalm 137 in Jewish and Christian Traditions ; 6. Psalm 137 - Unlikely Liturgy or Partisan Poem? A Response to Sue Gillingham ; 7. The Liturgical Psalter in Medieval Europe ; 8. True Lights: Seeing the Psalms through Chagall's Church Windows ; 9. How Can We Sing the Lord's Song? Deciphering the Masoretic Cantillation ; 10. The Psalms in Judaism and Christianity. A Reception History Perspective ; II: READING THE PSALTER ; 11. The Psalter as Theodicy Writ Large ; 12. The Psalter and Theodicy. Perspectives Related to a Rhetorical Approach. ; 13. The Psalter as a Book ; 14. The Proto-mt Psalter, the King, and Psalms 1 and 2. A response to Klaus Seybold. ; 15. On Translating the Poetry of the Psalms ; 16. Traduttore Traditore, Beowulf and the Psalms. A Response to Nancy Declaisse Walford. ; III: PAST CONTEXTS AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES ; 17. Psalm 104 and Akhenaten's Hymn to the Sun ; 18. The Psalms and Sumerian Hymns ; 19. Problems and Prospects in Psalter Studies ; 20. Postscript