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

Chapter 3: MethodologyFor most word definitions, I rely on HALOT (Koehler, Baumgartner,Richardson and Stamm 1999), Swanson (1997), Holladay (1988; electronicedition in 2000), Whitaker (1997) or BDB (2000). For more detailedassistance, I rely on the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament editedby Harris, Archer and Waltke (1980; electronic edition in 1999) and on theNew International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis editedby VanGemeren (1996). The second category of secondary resources ismajor English commentaries on the Psalms. I have ready access to Briggsand Briggs (1906), Weiser (1962), Dahood (1966), Kidner (1973), Ross(1985), Bratcher and Reyburn (1991), VanGemeren (1991), Motyer (1994),McCann (1996), Craigie (1998), Wilcock (2001), Wilson (2002), Clifford(2002), Terrien (2003), Rawlinson (2004), Goldingay (2006), Lane (2006) andOkorocha (2006).3.3 PresuppositionsThe nature of the chosen methodology is such that personal theological andhermeneutical views should not bias the findings. These three assumptionsare taken for granted throughout the dissertation:In its final canonical form, the book of Psalms “is a collection ofcollections” (Stek 2002:777). The editorial notations, especially the68