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

Chapter 3: Methodologymatters do not receive much attention. Explicit historical allusions within thetext are noted for the sake of comparison, but no attempt will be made toverify their accuracy. With respect to historical data, what matters most to thisstudy is the truth claims a psalm makes, not the truth value of those claims.Details that modern critical scholars view sceptically would likely have beenaccepted without question by early editors. Their editorial decisions wouldreflect their beliefs about these matters, not contemporary conclusions.For the purposes of this study, the implied historical setting of a psalm is moreimportant than its actual historical origin. By “implied historical setting”, I havein mind the kind of circumstances that prompted the writing of the psalm. Thehistorical data contained in most psalms are too general to permit positiveidentification of a specific occasion of writing, but they are often sufficient toindicate the type of situation that occasioned their writing. For example, theimplied historical setting of a psalm may be military in nature, arising from amilitary conflict. We may be able to draw this conclusion confidently eventhough the psalm’s occasion cannot be pinpointed precisely, that is, wecannot identify the specific military conflict during or for which it wascomposed.The twentieth century witnessed considerable debate over whether thehistorical data in the biblical psalms point towards their historical occasion or72