Myth and Ritual Approach

History of Interpretation of Psalms
Cult-Functional Approach ← Myth and Ritual Approach → Canonical Process Approach

Method

1. Accepts literary forms.
2. Accepts royal ideology.
3. Reconstructs a New Year Festival much closer to the Babylonian akitu festival. Here the king, as a manifestation of the divine, functions ritualistically in mythical drama. Components of ritual:
   1. Death and resurrection: king represents the annual death and resurrection of the deity corresponding to the cycle of nature.
   2. Creation: king, representing God, recites the story of God’s victory over the forces of chaos.
   3. Ritual combat: cries of distress of the psalmist-king, along with tension with enemies, are liturgical accompaniments for a dramatic sham fight.
   4. Sacred Marriage: king, as representative of the deity entered into a dramatic nuptial union with the representative of a female divinity to insure the fertility of the land.
   5. Triumphal procession: king leads triumphal procession to the temple to symbolize the annual enthronement of deity in his proper home.

Scholars

S. H. Hooke, Engnell, Guthrie, A. R. Johnson, Oesterley, Ringgren, Widengren, John Eaton.