REL 371K: SPECIAL TOPICS:

INTERPRETING PSALMS

 

 
Emory University
Fall 1994
Professor David R. Blumenthal  reldrb@emory.edu
TT 2:30 - 4:00
Max.: 20; Writing requirement: Yes
 
Content:

The Psalms remain one of the central documents of western culture and religion. Each generation reads them in the light of traditions received from previous generations and of current experience. This course will bring to the student various interpretations of the Psalms, especially those with literary, feminist, and midrashic points of view and, it will demand that students do their own interpretation of these great classic texts.

Texts:

  • Bible, any translation; best: Tanakh, Jewish Publication Society.
  • D. Blumenthal, Facing the Abusing God: A Theology of Protest.
  • P. Trible, Texts of Terror.
  • E. Wiesel, Night.
  • E. Bass, I Never Told Anyone.
  • F. Bolton, Males At Risk.
  • H. Gunkel, The Psalms.
  • W. Brueggemann, The Message of Psalms.
  • C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms.

Reserve:

  • P. Trible, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality.
  • M. Bal, Lethal Love.
  • H. Fisch, Poetry With a Purpose.
  • A. Laytner, Arguing With God.
  • N. Sarna, Songs of the Heart.
  • D. Boyarin, Intertextuality and the Reading of Midrash.
  • A. Feuer, Tehillim.
  • A. Hacham, Tehillim.

Particulars:

We will read the texts very closely and consider the questions: What religious experiences lie behind the text of Psalms? What experience does the text evoke in us? This is a very writing- and reflection-intensive class. Very active class participation is expected. One final paper.

SYLLABUS

Introduction

Aug. 25 Types of Interpretation -- discussion

assn.: Facing, Ps. 128; Trible

I. Learning How to Read-Interpret

8/30; 9/1 Psalm 128

assn.: Facing, Ps. 44; Night

Sept. 6 (no class; Rosh ha-Shana)

Sept. 8,13 Psalm 44

assn.: Facing, Ps. 109; Bass or Bolton

Sept. 15 (no class; Yom Kippur)

Sept. 20 (no class; Sukkot)

Sept. 22, 29 Psalm 109

assn.: prepare Psalm 23: divide it, write two commentaries

Sept. 27 (no class; Sukkot)

II. Practicing How to Read-Interpret

Oct. 4 Psalm 23

assn.: prepare Psalm 121: divide it, write two commentaries

Oct. 6 Psalm 121

assn.: prepare Psalm 30: divide it, write two commentaries

Oct. 11 (no class; fall break)

Oct. 13 Psalm 30

assn.: articles by Sarna and Newsome

III. Looping Back: Approaches to Psalms

Oct. 18 Sarna and Newsome

assn.: Lewis, Gunkel, Brueggemann

Oct. 20 Lewis, Gunkel, Brueggemann

assn.: chapters by Boyarin

Oct. 25,27 Boyarin: the midrashic method

assn.: get ready

IV. Student Presentations

Students will choose a psalm, divide it, write two commentaries on it, prepare copies for the class, lead class discussion, and then write a second draft; if time permits, we will have two rounds

Nov. 1

Nov. 3

Nov. 8

Nov. 10

Nov. 15

Nov. 17

Nov. 22

Nov. 24 (no class; Thanksgiving)

Nov. 29

Dec. 1

Conclusion -- Dec. 6

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS

Book Orders

  • Bible, any translation; best: Tanakh, Jewish Publication Society.
  • D. Blumenthal, Facing the Abusing God: A Theology of Protest. Westminster / John Knox.
  • P. Trible, Texts of Terror. Fortress Press.
  • E. Wiesel, Night. any edition.
  • E. Bass, I Never Told Anyone. Harper Collins.
  • F. Bolton, Males At Risk. Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA.
  • H. Gunkel, The Psalms. Fortress Press.
  • W. Brueggemann, The Message of Psalms. Augsburg.
  • C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Terms to Learn

  • closure / fissure
  • intertextuality
  • hyphenation, double entendre
  • plurisignification
  • deconstruction
  • voice
  • self-identify, to name
  • grouped textual field
  • gendered and gender-neutral language
  • typology
  • lemma
  • psalter
  • doxology
  • Masoretes
  • canon
  • androcentric, mysogyny (-istic)
  • lectionary
  • genre
  • Sitz im Leben
  • orientation / disorientation / new orientation
  • paradigm
  • ideological intertextual code
  • semiotic
  • demythologize
  • caesure

How to Prepare a Psalm

  • the expository voice
  • --divide it into units / voices
  • who is speaking in each unit
  • what is the dramatic setting
  • what are the key images; the associations with the key images
  • what is the emotion of the unit / verse / stich
  • what is the time, place, and purpose of the psalm
  • use the first lemma to explain the structure of the psalm, its voices
  • --name the voice; read it out loud
  • what is the theology behind the unit
  • --browse through the library shelves on psalms
  • use the Index to Articles in Jewish Studies and the Index to Jewish Periodicals
  • use the assigned course books
  • the "other" (interpretive) voice
  • --juxtapose passages from other literature
  • juxtapose passages from elsewhere in the Bible to create a third voice
  • create your own one-line midrash
  • write a running commentary in your own, or another's, voice
  • --name this voice
  • try to be powerful, clear, poetic
  • clear your mind and then write; stay clear

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