The Function of Story in the Hebrew Psalter

Rebecca W. Poe Hays

doi:10.5771/9781978711471

Summary

Providing balance to the general scholarly trend to focus on the non-narrative aspect of Hebrew poetry, this book argues that the Hebrew Psalter does contain stories, and their inclusion in ancient Israel’s worship texts contributes to the rhetorical power of the psalms in ways distinct from other poetic devices. Rebecca W. Poe Hays builds on literary theory and biblical studies of narrative to establish a clear definition of “story” and to identify where story appears in the book of Psalms. The majority of the book explores how these story portions of the Psalter—divided into the three broad categories of retellings of history, testimonies, and paradigms—function within their larger contexts. Each chapter includes a discussion of a particular category’s general characteristics, a close reading of representative texts, and an assessment of distinctive ways each type of story functions in the psalms in which they appear. These poetic, psalmic stories have the rhetorical power to draw readers uniquely into narrative worlds and inspire empathy, to guide readers into particular understandings of history and teach inductively, and to concretize the abstract and so shape the beliefs and behaviors of the communities who regard them as sacred texts.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2021
ISBN-Print: 978-1-9787-1146-4
ISBN-Online: 978-1-9787-1147-1
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 186
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
2. 1. Figures No access
  2. Tables No access
3. Acknowledgments No access
1. Why a Book on Story in the Psalms? No access
2. Laying out the Study No access
3. Notes No access
1. Three Complications and a Qualification No access
2. What Exactly Makes Something a Story? No access
3. What Makes a Psalm a Story? No access
4. Three Types of Psalm Story No access
5. Notes No access
1. General Characteristics No access
2. Psalm 78 No access
3. Psalm 107 No access
4. Psalm 136 No access
5. How Do Retellings of History Function in the Psalms? No access
6. Notes No access
1. General Characteristics No access
2. Psalm 3025 No access
3. Psalm 73 No access
4. Psalm 81 No access
5. How Do Testimonies Function in the Psalms? No access
6. Notes No access
1. General Characteristics No access
2. Psalm 80 No access
3. Psalm 20 No access
4. Psalm 7 No access
5. How Do Paradigms Function in the Psalms? No access
6. Notes No access
1. Retellings of History No access
2. Testimonies No access
3. Paradigms No access
4. What Difference Does a Story Make? No access
5. Notes No access
Bibliography No access Pages 161 - 176
Subject Index No access Pages 177 - 180
Scripture Index No access Pages 181 - 184
About the Author No access Pages 185 - 186