Charting the Course of Psalms Research

Multiple essays on the Psalms by the influential Psalms exegete, Erhard Gerstenberger.

Erhard Gerstenberger (1932-2023) has been a highly influential exegete of the Psalms for several decades. He demonstrated how the Psalms were able to modulate the deepest feelings of individuals and communities, encompassing a wide variety of existential experiences relating to God and the world. Gerstenberger believed that psalmic poetry grew out of diverse and real-life situations. The first two essays in Charting the Course of Psalms Research deftly review the secondary literature. The first covers the ‘lyrical literature’ of the Old Testament, and the second considers the history of interpretation of the Psalms. The remaining essays explore the social settings of the Psalms and their connection to theology and communication theory, and include two chapter translated into English for the first time and edited by K.C. Hanson. Student and researcher alike will be enriched by the insights Gerstenberger provides.

Erhard S. Gerstenberger (1932-2023) was Professor Emeritus at the University of Marburg, where he taught Old Testament from 1985-1997, and served as Dean of the Department of Protestant Theology from 1993-1994. His numerous works have been translated into many languages, and he remains an influential biblical scholar. K.C. Hanson is Editor in Chief of Wipf and Stock publishers, and has numerous theological publications. Hanson worked closely with Gerstenberger on the translations for this book.

• By (author) Erhard S Gerstenberger
• By (author) K C Hanson

"Erhard Gerstenberger has been a decisive figure in Psalms study in the past generation. This book provides a summary of scholarly research on the Psalms in his generation. Beyond that, this book gives full expression to Gerstenberger's singular contribution to Psalms study, namely, the articulation of a fourfold taxonomy of Psalm settings: family, village, monarchy, and the post-exile community. Through this valuable summation of his work, Gerstenberger continues to be our generative teacher.Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological SeminaryErhard Gerstenberger's lifelong pursuit to understand the rich theological traditions of ancient Israel's religious poetry can be grasped on each page of this collection of essays. With the help of Hanson's elegant translation, he takes his English-speaking readers on a tour de force of intimate prayers, ritual settings, and varied theologies of the Psalter, uncovering hidden treasures, social contexts, and expressions of faith of texts that still impact us today.Anselm C. Hagedorn, Universitat OsnabruckThis invaluable collection of essays is the fruit of Erhard Gerstenberger's long and distinguished career. Gerstenberger is a formidable scholar and perhaps the most ferocious advocate for a pure form-critical approach to the Psalms. His towering intellect illuminates the Psalms in their historic, ritual, and cultic settings.Rolf A. Jacobson, Luther Seminary"
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