Smith DTh Thesis (final).pdf - South African Theological Seminary

Chapter 1: Introductionphase of the study and the rationale for using those steps is described indetail.Chapter 4 lays a foundation for the analysis of the links between the psalmsby analysing each psalm in individually, drawing attention to its mostimportant features. The focus is on the concrete literary features of eachpsalm. More speculative theories and proposals are noted, but not laboured.The heart of the study comes in chapters 5 and 6, an exhaustive analysis ofthe links between Psalms 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Chapter 5 focuses solely onneighbouring psalms, exploring all similarities that might represent intentionallinks and thus provide editorial grounds for placing one psalm immediatelyafter another. Chapter 6 examines broader relationships within the corpus asa whole, seeking to understand the redactional criteria and objectivesreflected in the final compilation of the corpus.Chapter 7 wraps up the study, drawing conclusions about the researchproblem in the light of the evidence gathered in chapters 4-6. The first sectiongraphically summarises the patterns of linkage that were discovered betweenthe psalms (answer to key question 1). On the basis of this evidence,conclusions are drawn as to the redactional rationale underlying thearrangement of Psalms 3-8 (resolution of key question 2). The study closes11