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

Chapter 2History of Psalms Studies2.1 IntroductionIn recent times, the level of scholarly interest in the Book of Psalms has risento unprecedented heights. The Psalter held pride of place amongst the booksof the Old Testament in the ministry of Jesus and the early church.Throughout the centuries, the psalms have captured the hearts of Christiansand ranked amongst the most popular of all biblical materials in the devotionallife of the church. Yet in terms of biblical scholarship since the advent ofcritical era, they have taken a back seat to most of the other Old Testamentmaterials.The current revival of scholarly interest in the psalms is largely due toresearch demonstrating that the Psalter is not a haphazard collection ofpsalms, but a purposefully arranged “book”, suitable for literary analysis. Over13