Psalms Through the Centuries, Volume 3 - (Wiley Blackwell Bible Commentaries) by Susan Gillingham (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

This third volume completes the set of a groundbreaking reception history of the Psalter, the culmination of two decades' work

In Volume Threeof Psalms Through the Centuries: A Reception History Commentary on Psalms 73-151, the internationally recognized biblical scholar Professor Susan Gillingham examines the Jewish and Christian cultural and reception history of Books Three to Five of the Psalter. She examines the changing ways in which psalms have been understood in translations and commentaries, liturgy and prayer, study and preaching, music and art, poetic and dramatic performance, and political and ethical discourse.

Lavishly illustrated with thirty colour plates, several black and white images and a number of musical scores, this volume also includes a comprehensive glossary of terms for readers less familiar with the subject and a full, selective bibliography complete with footnote references for each psalm. Numerous links to website resources also allow readers to pursue topics at greater depth, and three clearly organized indices facilitate searches by specific psalms or authors, or types of reception for selected psalms.

This structure makes the commentary easy to use, whether for private study, teaching or preaching. The book also offers:

• A one-of-a-kind treatment of the reception history of the psalms that starts where most commentaries end-- beginning with the trajectory of the Psalter's multi-faceted reception over two millennia
• Specific discussions of both Jewish and Christian responses to individual psalms

Psalms Through the Centuries: A Reception History Commentary on Psalms 73-151, like the previous two volumes, will earn a distinctive place in the libraries of faculties, colleges, seminaries, and religious communities as well as in private collections of students and scholars of biblical studies, theology, and religion.

From the Back Cover

Praise for Volumes 1 and 2:

"In showing how Jewish and Christian traditions feed off and against each other, or how musical manifestations from choral to Leonard Cohen keep the text alive or sitting at the feet of Marc Chagall or Damien Hirst (on Ps. 27) as they repaint the poetry, Gillingham leads readers through insight to understanding. A triumph."
--Richard S. Briggs, review in The Society for Old Testament Study

"Gillingham's commentary showcases her fullest treatment ... nothing short of a tour de force of interpretive coverage."
--William P. Brown, review in Society for Biblical Literature

Volume Three of Psalms Through the Centuries: A Reception History Commentary on Psalms 73-151 provides the first ever extensive commentary on the Jewish and Christian reception history of the last three books of the Psalter (Psalms 73-89, 90-106, 107-151). This unique and expansive collection explores the various uses of Psalms over two millennia, in translation and commentary, liturgy and prayer, study and preaching, musical composition and artistic illustration, poetic and dramatic imitation, and contemporary discourse.

Lavishly illustrated with thirty colour plates and nineteen black and white images including musical scores and art, this final volume concludes the unique journey through the reception history of the Psalter which began with Volume 1 and Volume 2. It offers a detailed commentary on each psalm, including a comprehensive glossary of terms for readers less familiar with the subject and a full, selective bibliography with footnote references, and a clear index enabling searches for specific psalms, authors, or types of reception.

Published in the Wiley Blackwell Bible Commentaries series, Psalms Through the Centuries is a must-have resource for students and scholars of biblical studies, theology, and religion at universities, colleges, and seminaries, as well as an ideal book for use in preaching, or for private reflection on individual psalms.

About the Author

The Revd. Canon Professor Susan Gillingham D.D. has worked at Oxford University for over forty years. She retired in 2019, but continues to teach and write extensively, and she is now a Senior Research Fellow at Worcester College, Professor Emeritus of the Hebrew Bible at the University of Oxford, and Director of the Oxford Psalms Network for the Oxford Research Centre in Humanities. She was ordained to the Permanent Diaconate in the Anglican Church in 2018, is licensed to St Barnabas Church, Oxford, and is also Canon Theologian at Exeter Cathedral.