Psalmody and Poetry in Old Testament Ethics

by Dirk J. Human (Editor), Laura Quick (Editor), Jacqueline Vayntrub (Editor)

Overview

Questions arise from scholarly debate in Hebrew Bible ethics such as: what is Old Testament ethics?, what is the object of study?, what are the methods involved and how normative are Old Testament ethics for modern contexts? These questions advance crucial issues in the quest for understanding ethics of the ancient Hebrew mind and the problem of how to contextualize them in modern contexts.

This book begins by exploring the relationship between the Old Testament and Ethics, as well as a philosophical discussion on meta-ethical presuppositions on divinity and morality in the Psalter. The main part of the book reflects analyses of specific psalms (Pss 16; 34; 50; 72; 104; and 133). The core of this section reflects an illustration of psalm texts with the thematic focus on Hebrew ethical thinking. Included are a few contextual contributions discussing relevant ethical issues in Africa from an African perspective. In the final section two exemplary poetic texts from the Pentateuch (Deut 32) and the Prophets (Jer 5) reverberate ethical thinking from other parts of the Hebrew canon.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780567223906
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/16/2014
Series:	The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies , #572
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Professor Dirk J. Human is Head of Biblical and Religious Studies at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

Table of Contents

Preface
Abbreviations
List of Contributors

Part I - Introduction

1. Eckart Otto (Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany)
"Hebrew Ethics in Old Testament Scholarship"

2. Jaco W Gericke (Northwest University, Vaal Triangle Campus, RSA)
"What is Good? Meta-Ethical Assumptions in the Psalms Concerning the Relation between Divinity and Morality"

Part II - Psalmody

3. Alphonso Groenewald (University of Pretoria, RSA)
"The Ethical "Way" of Psalm 16"

4. Phil J Botha (University of Pretoria, RSA)
"Psalm 34 and the Ethics of the Editors of the Psalter"

5. Theodor Seidl (University of Wurzburg, Germany; Research Associate, University of Pretoria)
"Who Stands Behind the רשׁ׃א in Psalm 50:16a? The Ethical Testimony of Psalm 50:16-22"

6.Andrew Mein (Westcott House, Cambridge, UK)
"The King's Justice? Early Modern Perspectives on the Ethics of Psalm 72"

7. Johan Coetzee (University of Johannesburg, RSA)
"Bodily Interpretation of Psalm 104: "Yahweh's History" and Human Ethics"

8. Liswaniso Kamuwanga (University of Pretoria, RSA)
"Ethics and Justice in an African Society"

9. Emannuel O Usue (University of Pretoria and Benue State University Makurdi, igeria)
"Ethical and Theological Parallels Between Biblical Psalms and The NKST Indigenous Christian Songs"

10. Samuel Ndoga (Baptist Theological College, Johannesburg, RSA)
"Psalm 133 as a Response to Xenophobic Attitudes in South Africa Today"

Part III - Poetry in Pentateuch and Prophets

11. Eckart Otto (Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany)
"Singing Moses: His Farewell Song in Deuteronomy 32"

12. Willie Wessels (University of South Africa, Pretoria, RSA)
"Prophet and Ethics: a Study of Jeremiah 5:26-29"

Index of References
Index of Authors

Editorial Reviews

Psalmody and Poetry in Old Testament Ethics is the result of a 2008 Project Psalms seminar at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, an international interdisciplinary working group bringing together psalms and poetic texts scholars. Per the title, the theme around which this volume's contributions cluster is ethics. Attentive to the historical and sociologically formed worlds behind the text and aware of the place of the reader, this volume seeks to further the scholarly understanding of an ethics of the ancient Hebrew mind as well as contextualize contemporary African ethical issues.” —Seth B. Tarrer, Insituto Teológico San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Reviews in Religion and Theology

“This volume represents the proceedings of an international seminar at the University of Pretoria in August 2008 ... There is much of interest in this collection.” —Walter J. Houston, University of Manchester, UK, Jourbanal of Theological Studies (Vol. 64.2)

From the Publisher