Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 66:3 (Sep 2023)
Article: Psalms Studies Today: Where Are We And Where Are We Going?
Author: J. Clinton Mccann, Jr.

JETS 66:3 (September 2023) p. 473

Psalms Studies Today: Where Are We And Where Are We Going?

J. Clinton Mccann Jr.*

^* J. Clinton McCann Jr. is the Evangelical Professor of Biblical Interpretation at Eden Theological Seminary, 475 E. Lockwood Ave., St. Louis, MO 63119. He may be contacted at [email protected].

This article is a slightly revised version of a presentation delivered on November 17, 2022, at the ETS Annual Meeting. The session also included presentations by David Howard, Kyle Dunham, and Ethan Jones, to which, in part, my presentation was a response. The presentations of Dunham and Jones also appear in this issue of JETS, and Howard’s is published as follows: David M. Howard Jr. and Michael K. Snearly, “Reading the Psalter as a Unified Book: Recent Trends,” in D. M. Howard Jr. and A. J. Schmutzer, eds., Reading the Psalms Theologically, Studies in Scripture and Biblical Theology (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2023), 1–35. My thanks to David, Kyle, and Ethan, as well as to Daniel Estes, who organized and presided at the session.

Abstract: A brief review of the past forty years or so of Psalms studies reveals that attention to the shape and shaping of the Psalter has become a dominant approach. While this approach will undoubtedly continue to be influential, its influence will likely wane as other interests become more ascendant, including interpretation of the Psalms as poetry, theological approaches to the Psalms, and interpretation of the Psalms in conversation with contemporary concerns (such as ecological degradation, agrarian issues, and the pervasiveness of trauma). Psalms studies will likely proceed from many perspectives and along many fronts. It is argued that such diversity is a good thing, indicating the ongoing vitality of Psalms studies.

Key words: Psalms, shaping, poetry, theology, ecology, agrarianism, diversity, humility

So, where are we? For a bit of historical perspective, we will start with a look backward. When I attended my first Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) Annual Meeting in November of 1987 after having begun seminary teaching earlier that fall, there was no Book of Psalms program unit. There was a Hebrew Poetry Section, and of course the Psalms are Hebrew poetry, as Ethan Jones’s article in this issue clearly points out. But it seemed to me that there were features of the Psalms that set them apart in some ways from Hebrew poetry in general. I went back to St. Louis, and several colleagues and mentors and I applied for permission to create a Book of Psalms Consultation. The application was approved, and the first session took place in 1989. A couple of years later, the consultation became the Book of Psalms Section, which is still going strong.

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