Crisis, Cursing, and the Christian

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Introduction

Grant, Jamie A. 2018. “Crisis, Cursing and the Christian: Reading Imprecatory Psalms in the Twenty-First Century.” Foundations (Affinity) 74: 4–13.

Summary

"Many Christian readers of the Psalter balk at the psalm that call down curses on particular people in response to wrongs that have been perpetrated by them. We are uncomfortable both with the language and the ethical implications. Effectively, these psalms are omitted from the life and worship of the church. This article argues that this should not be the case. When understood in the light of the constraints of genre and when understood as prayers offered to the Sovereign, these psalms provide us with a spiritual vocabulary which enables us to deal with the horrific injustices of life before the throne of God" (4).

Argument

"My aim is to provide a robust apology for the continued and vibrant use of imprecations as part of Christian worship, both private and corporate" (6). 


===
title: 
    Praying imprecatory psalms
model:
    removeTagsFromText: true 
selection:
    excludeDisconnected: false
===
[Praying imprecatory pss]: Christians should pray the imprecatory psalms
 + [Spiritual vocabulary]: "These psalms provide us with a spiritual vocabulary which enables us to deal with the horrific injustices of life before the throne of God" (4).
 - [Vindictive hatred]: The imprecatory psalms are base, vile, and full of vindictive hatred. #no
  - [Poetic response to violence]: The imprecatory psalms "are rather carefully crafted poetic responses to violence that has already been perpetrated on the psalmist and his community" (7)
   + <Genre>: "Imprecatory psalms follow clearly-defined genre patterns": (1) "the consistent imminence of violence"; (2) "the rejection of the right of human retribution"; and (3) "the limitation of the violence that could be sought from God" (6-7, citing Firth 2005:139).
    + [Lex Talionis]: "These prayers are grounded in the ''lex talionis.'' They ''respond'' to the evils experienced by the community of faith by asking God to revisit ''similar and proportionate'' experiences upon those who committed the injustices in the first place" (7).
     + [E.g., Ps 137]: "The invading Babylonian armies... hurled the children of survivors from the Temple Mount to be dashed on the rocks below. Therefore, the psalmist prays: '...blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock" (Ps 137:8-9, ESV)" (7).

[Injustice]: "Imprecations take injustice seriously" (6).
 + [Human source of injustice]:"The psalms treat the human identity of evildoers seriously" (8).
 + [Injustice offensive to God]:"The imprecatory psalms force us to describe evil as evil and to publicly declare that there are actions which are simply abhorrent to God" (9).
 + [Victims of injustice]: "The imprecations bring attention to violence suffered by the weak" (9).
 + [Wake-up to injustice]:"Imprecatory psalms challenge our ambivalence towards injustice"
 +> [Spiritual vocabulary]
 
[Prayers]: Imprecatory psalms, as prayers, "commit all injustice into *God's* hands for *his* response" (10).
 +> <Genre>

<Speech-acts>: "These poetic prayers are divine speech-acts as well as being human words... God *teaches* his people through the psalms of imprecation... to embrace them as a spiritual vocabulary through which we can process the undeniable evils of this world" (11)."
 + [Canonization]:"Through the process of canonization these (very human) words have become the word of God to his people" (11).
 +> [Spiritual vocabulary]


Argument Mapn0Praying imprecatory pssChristians should pray the imprecatory psalmsn1Spiritual vocabulary"These psalms provide us with a spiritual vocabulary which enables us to deal with the horrific injustices of life before the throne of God" (4).n1->n0n2Vindictive hatredThe imprecatory psalms are base, vile, and full of vindictive hatred. n2->n0n3Poetic response to violenceThe imprecatory psalms "are rather carefully crafted poetic responses to violence that has already been perpetrated on the psalmist and his community" (7)n3->n2n4Lex Talionis"These prayers are grounded in the ''lex talionis.'' They ''respond'' to the evils experienced by the community of faith by asking God to revisit ''similar and proportionate'' experiences upon those who committed the injustices in the first place" (7).n13Genre"Imprecatory psalms follow clearly-defined genre patterns": (1) "the consistent imminence of violence"; (2) "the rejection of the right of human retribution"; and (3) "the limitation of the violence that could be sought from God" (6-7, citing Firth 2005:139).n4->n13n5E.g., Ps 137"The invading Babylonian armies... hurled the children of survivors from the Temple Mount to be dashed on the rocks below. Therefore, the psalmist prays: '...blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock" (Ps 137:8-9, ESV)" (7).n5->n4n6Injustice"Imprecations take injustice seriously" (6).n6->n1n7Human source of injustice"The psalms treat the human identity of evildoers seriously" (8).n7->n6n8Injustice offensive to God"The imprecatory psalms force us to describe evil as evil and to publicly declare that there are actions which are simply abhorrent to God" (9).n8->n6n9Victims of injustice"The imprecations bring attention to violence suffered by the weak" (9).n9->n6n10Wake-up to injustice"Imprecatory psalms challenge our ambivalence towards injustice"n10->n6n11PrayersImprecatory psalms, as prayers, "commit all injustice into God's  hands for his response" (10).n11->n13n12Canonization"Through the process of canonization these (very human) words have become the word of God to his people" (11).n14Speech-acts"These poetic prayers are divine speech-acts as well as being human words... God teaches  his people through the psalms of imprecation... to embrace them as a spiritual vocabulary through which we can process the undeniable evils of this world" (11)."n12->n14n13->n3n14->n1
Praying imprecatory psalms


Sources

Grant draws heavily from the following books to make his argument:

  • Erich Zenger, A God of Vengeance? Understanding the Psalms of Divine Wrath (Louisville: WJKP, 1996).
  • David G. Firth, Surrendering Retribution in the Psalms: Responses to Violence in the Individual Complaints (Paternoster Biblical Monographs; Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2005).
  • Kit Baker, Imprecation as Divine Discourse: Speech Act Theory, Dual Authorship, and Theological Interpretation (Journal of Theological Interpretation Supplements 16; Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2016).
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