Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 25:3 (Fall 2021)
Article: Reading The Psalms With The Church: A Critical Evaluation Of Prosopological Exegesis In Light Of Church History
Author: David Schrock

SBJT 25:3 (Fall 2021) p. 77

Reading The Psalms With The Church: A Critical Evaluation Of Prosopological Exegesis In Light Of Church History

David Schrock

David Schrock is Pastor of Preaching and Theology at Occoquan Bible Church, Woodbridge, Virgina, and Professor of Systematic Theology at Indianapolis Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Indiana. He earned his PhD in Systematic Theology from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Schrock has written for Credo Magazine, 9Marks Journal, Desiring God, Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, Southeastern Theological Review, Criswell Theological Review, and is the author of two books, Royal Priesthood and the Glory of God (Crossway, 2022) and Brothers, We are Not Plagiarists (Founders, 2022).

Throughout church history, the Psalter has played a central role in shaping the church at worship. Publicly and privately, these inspired psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, have fueled faith, expressed lament, directed praise, and preserved messianic hopes. Some have used the Psalms as the sole hymnbook for their worship services. Others have employed them for counseling, meditation, and theological devotion. Truly, all who swim in their waters find a delicious taste for God, expressed with the deepest emotions of the human soul. Like honey, the Psalter’s sweetness is self-evident. Yet, the question remains: How should we read the Psalms?

Over time, the answer to that question has shifted. And it is worth learning how modern turns in Psalm studies have guided Christians (theologically

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liberal and conservative) to read the psalms individually, instead of together. Moreover, by learning this history and the recent recovery of canonical exegesis (i.e., reading the psalms as a unified whole), we can better understand the problem of interpretive strategies that call readers to find unnamed personal voices in the Psalms—even if those persons are the Father, Son, and Spirit.

Materially, this essay will provide a brief history of Psalm studies, as it compares the way Psalms have been read by the church before and after the Enlightenment and the rise of modern approaches to Scripture. This historical review will set the stage for understanding why reading psalms in isolation is a characteristic of modern hermeneutics (i.e., higher-criticism). While current trends in interpretation are smitten with patristic methods of interpretation, many pre-critical approaches continue to employ the tools of historical criticism. Hence, recent calls for pre-critical exegesis are not wholly divorced from the critical tendency to analyze (lit. “break apart”) Scripture. Even more, approa...