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EV5152 THE BOOK OF PSALMS (A.Y. 2025/2026)
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Accademic Unit
Biblical Faculty
Description
Both the Jewish and Christian traditions have seen the Book of Psalms as a distinctive text, one that reflects the rest of the biblical canon but also offers something uniquely its own. This course will explore this book’s distinctive nature while examining the psalms’ different roles as historical texts of ancient Israel, poetry of enduring literary value, essential texts for ongoing prayer and worship, and important contributions to biblical theology.
Objectives
This course will first of all enable students to become familiar with the tools used in the modern critical study of both the individual psalms and the larger book of which they are a part, with special attention being paid to the form-critical analysis of their genres, the literary analysis of their Hebrew poetry, and the analysis of the Psalter’s canonical shape. Secondly, the course will introduce students to some of the ways that Jewish and Christian interpreters and worshipers have approached the psalms over the last two thousand years. Finally, the course will ask students to engage the important hermeneutical and theological issues raised by these important texts.
Mode of Instruction
The consecutive class periods of this course will usually be devoted to two different types of lectures. The first period will introduce larger historical, literary, and theological issues related to the psalms, while the second will emphasize the detailed analysis of a particular “focus psalm” that illustrates the issues presented in the first hour. The instructor will allow time for questions and for further discussion of both the larger issues and the textual analysis.
Evaluation
Students will be evaluated on the basis of a final written examination. This examination will consist of two sections: 1) a grammatical, poetic, and theological analysis of Hebrew selections drawn from the focus psalms considered during the second class periods, and 2) questions about larger critical, literary, and theological issues related to the interpretation of the psalms and the book of which they are a part. In place of the final examination, students may elect to submit a research paper on a particular psalm or topic approved by the instructor.
Information
- Semester: 1° Semestre
- ECTS: 5
Teachers
Harry Peter NASUTI
Lesson schedule/Room
Lessons schedule not available
Bibliography
Each week students will be assigned short readings related to a particular psalms topic. These readings will usually include a number of psalms, as well as selections from modern critical scholarship and the psalms’ earlier interpretive history. Students should also become familiar with the Hebrew text of the “focus psalm” to be examined in the second class period. As part of such preparation, students should consult the discussion of that psalm in a modern critical commentary.
Particularly recommended for Psalms 51–150 are Frank-Lothar Hossfeld – Erich Zenger , Psalms 2: A Commentary on Psalms 51-100 and Psalms 3: A Commentary on Psalm 101-150 (Hermeneia; Fortress Press, Minneapolis, MN, 2005, 2011).
Also recommended are Konrad Schaefer , O.S.B., Psalms (Berith Olam; Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2001) and Richard J. Clifford , Psalms 1–72 and Psalms 73–150 , (AOTC; Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2002, 2003).
Students unfamiliar with the dynamics of Hebrew poetry will find it helpful to consult either David L. Petersen – Kent Harold Richards , Interpreting Hebrew Poetry (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1992) or Adele Berlin , The Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism, Revised and Expanded Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Press, 2008).