Comps Prep Flashcards
5 Typical Components to Individual Lament
(1) opening address, often in the form of a vocative (“My God”); (2) description of the distress or crisis; (3) plea for help (from God), often followed by reason for God to hear or act; (4) profession of trust; (5) promise to praise God or to offer a sacrifice.
3 Typical Components to Hymn in Psalter
(1) opening invitation to praise; (2) rationale for praise, often introduced by the Hebrew particle meaning “for” (kî); (3) renewed call to praise.
Defining Characteristics of Hebrew Poetry
High degree of parallelism, imagery and terseness
Colon; Bicolon
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Add more from Basic Terminology of Poetry
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Outlines of Books
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Meter… what types have been suggested? What is consensus regarding presence of meter??
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Though not the first to note parallelism, who might be described as the initiator of the modern study of parallelism in Hebrew Poetry, when, and what types did he identify?
Robert Lowth, 1753, 1) Synonymous 2) Antithetic 3) Synthetic
Alter’s view of parallelism
Alter prefers to speak of line B having a focusing or intensifying function within the parallel structure.
Kugel’s view of parallelism
Kugel avers that “all parallelism is really ‘synthetic.’ ..Kugel developed his well-known formula: “A is so, and what’s more, B is so.” Thus, in a typical verse line B has what Kugel calls a “seconding” or “afterwardness” function. Yet this is much more than the Lowthian idea of synonymous or antithetical restatement. “B typically supports A, carries it further, backs it up, completes it, goes beyond it.” In short, line B is connected with line A to construct a single, complex statement.
Berlin’s view of parallelism and main types…
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Other poetic features…, ellipsis, stair step, chiasm, apostrophe …
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Gerald Wilson’s take on synthetic parallelism
Wilson refers to it as “advancing parallelism.” In this type, line B does not exhibit similarities with line A in regard to syntax, structure or semantics. Line B advances the theme presented in line A.
e.g.,
Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God,”
They are corrupt, they commit abominable acts;
there is no one who does good. (Ps 53:1 NRSV)
advancing parallelism offers the psalmist “maximum flexibility in creating lines that develop, direct, and advance” the movement of the psalm.
Staircase parallelism
In this pattern elements from line A are repeated in line B with additional comments added to complete the thought.
The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. (Ps 9:9 NRSV)
emblematic parallelism
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incomplete parallelism, Janus parallelism, climactic parallelism, and metathetic parallelism, others???
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Merism
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Inclusio
*Inclusio is the repetition of lines or phrases at the beginning and end of a composition, thus forming a type of literary envelope.”
Metonymy
Metonymy is a figure of speech in which the name or designation of one thing is substituted for that of another object that is closely associated… lexical substitution…
Synecdoche
In this figure of speech the whole is represented by a part (or vice versa), or a particular is used to refer to the whole (or vice versa).
Apostrophe
a figure of speech in which the psalmist speaks directly to an absent person(s) or thing(s) as though actually present. Frequently in the psalms the psalmist will speak to kings or even foreign nations…
What are some ways Hebrew poetry achieves terseness?
The use of imagery (picture is worth a thousand words), ellipsis, nonuse of particles and conjunctions
Discuss Mowinckel’s contributions to the study of Psalms for better or worse
cultic setting_annual enthronement festival
Discuss Gunkel’s contributions to the study of Psalms for better or worse
_form criticial method, sitz im leben, ___
Discuss relative value of Psalter’s superscriptions
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Discuss current trends in reading Psalms
BL - It has become trendy to read Psalms within their canonical context. Some see links between close or adjacent Psalms such as 1 and 2, which suggest that they should be read together. This is somewhat analogous to the function of parallelism in poetry which at times forces readers to see connections between the separate lines and to thereby better understand the meaning of the whole when read together (Kugel’s A, and what’s more, B).
Scholars such as Childs have also noted how the placement of Psalms like provide a lens for interpreting what follows (the priority of Torah).
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G. H. Wilson’s The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter (1985) and subsequent work particularly spurred this approach. Wilson argued that the Psalter was shaped by the presence of both explicit and nonexplicit editorial markings, such as the doxologies, the terminology found in the superscriptions, and markings at the “seams” of the five books. Theologically, the Psalter’s structure recognized the apparent failure of the Davidic covenant (books 1–3), and in light of that failure books 4–5 held this Davidic hope in tension with the call of wisdom to dependent trust in Yahweh alone as king.
5 features that help identify strophes/stanzas within a poem
Content, Generic Components, Acrostic, Selah, and Refrain (Content is primary)
What are the five periods in the history of OT Theology?
Emancipation from Dogmatics (ca. 1650–1800)
The Influence of Rationalism (ca. 1750–1875)
OT Theology Eclipsed by the History of Israelite Religion (ca. 1875–1930)
Biblical Theology Movement (1930-1970)
Proliferation of New Approaches (1970-Present)
