Praise and Lament in the Psalms

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Introduction

Claus Westermann, Praise and Lament in the Psalms (Atlanta, Ga: J. Knox Press, 1981).

  • 1961 - originally published as Das Loben Gottes in den Psalmen
  • 1965 - translated into English and published as The Praise of God in the Psalms
  • 1977 - revised and expanded as Lob und Klage in den Psalmen (chapters 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 added)
  • 1981 - translated into English and published as Praise and Lament in the Psalms


Westermann is a key proponent of the form critical approach, taking up "the task set for us by Gunkel of research into the individual Psalm categories in their development and in the history of their component parts" (21). He is critical of the cult-functional approach. "Research since (the publication of Gunkel's Introduction has in my opinion turned too quickly form the then newly discovered path of understanding the categories of the Psalms as a whole and each in terms of its parts only to proceed in the direction recently taken by Mowinckel" (165).

"Westermann wrote this book while he was being held as a prisoner of war by the Soviet Union in World War II."[1]

Summary

Westermann boils down Gunkel's genre categories to two: Lament and Praise. Thus, the categories of the psalms "designate the basic modes of that which occurs when man turns to God with words: plea and praise" (153). Songs of Praise may be further categorized as Descriptive (praising God for who he is) or Declarative (praising God for what he has done). The categories of lament and declarative praise can be further subdivided based on whether the Psalm is individual or communal.

The Psalter as a tree with two main branches, rooted in the soil of a prayerful existence
  • Praise
    • Descriptive Psalm of Praise
    • Declarative Psalm of Praise
      • Declarative Psalm of Praise of the People
      • Declarative Psalm of Praise of the Individual
  • Lament
    • Psalm of Lament of the People
    • Psalm of Lament of the Individual


Praise and Lament are "the literary forms which characterize the Psalter as a whole, related as they are as polar opposites" (11). And these are not just literary forms; praise and lament are the two basic ways of speaking to God. "In Israel, all speaking to God moved between these two poles" (154).

If Gunkel viewed the Psalms as a tree with four main branches rooted in the soil of Israel's worship service, Westermann sees the Psalms as a tree with two main branches, rooted in the soil of a prayerful existence.

Outline

  1. Book One: The Praise of God in the Psalms
    1. The Categories of the Psalms
    2. The Structure of the Babylonian Psalms
    3. The Praise of God in the Categories of the Psalms
    4. Summary and Conclusion
  2. Book Two: Lament in the Psalms
    1. The Structure and History of the Lament in the Old Testament
    2. The "Re-presentation" of History in the Psalms
    3. The Formation of the Psalter
    4. The Role of the Lament in the Theology of the Old Testament

Key Concepts

Genre

See Gunkel on Genre.

Setting in life (Sitz im Leben)

See Gunkel on Sitz im Leben.

Key Arguments

Plea and Praise

Westermann refined Gunkel's genre categories by boiling them down to two basic categories: Lament (supplication) and Praise. 


===
title: Plea and Praise
model:
    removeTagsFromText: true
selection:
    excludeDisconnected: false
===
[Plea and praise]: The categories of the psalms "designate the basic modes of that which occurs when man turns to God with words: plea and praise" (153).
 + [Two modes of prayer]: "The two modes of calling on God are praise and petition" (152).
 + [Two kinds of Pss]: The two basic categories of Psalms are (1) Lament (supplication) and (2) Praise.
  + [Babylonian Pss]:The Babylonian psalms "speak to God in terms of petition and praise" (36).
   + The basic structure of the Babylonian psalm is (1) Address, (2) Praise, (3) Lament, (4) Petition, (5) Vow of praise.

[Gunkel's categories]:There are (according to Gunkel) four main categories of Psalms: (1) Hymn, (2) Communal Lament, (3) Individual Lament, (4) Individual Thanksgiving Song. #Gunkel
   -> [Two kinds of Pss]
   - [Illegitimate distinction]:The category distinction between Hymns and Psalms of Thanksgiving is not legitimate. Both are expressions of Praise.
    +> [Two kinds of Pss]
    + [Thanks as praise]:"The OT does not have our independent concept of thanks. The expression of thanks to God is included in praise, ''it is a way of praising''" (27).


Argument Mapn0Plea and praiseThe categories of the psalms "designate the basic modes of that which occurs when man turns to God with words: plea and praise" (153).n1Two modes of prayer"The two modes of calling on God are praise and petition" (152).n1->n0n2Two kinds of PssThe two basic categories of Psalms are (1) Lament (supplication) and (2) Praise.n2->n0n3Babylonian PssThe Babylonian psalms "speak to God in terms of petition and praise" (36).n3->n2n4The basic structure of the Babylonian psalm is (1) Address, (2) Praise, (3) Lament, (4) Petition, (5) Vow of praise.n4->n3n5Gunkel's categoriesThere are (according to Gunkel) four main categories of Psalms: (1) Hymn, (2) Communal Lament, (3) Individual Lament, (4) Individual Thanksgiving Song. n5->n2n6Illegitimate distinctionThe category distinction between Hymns and Psalms of Thanksgiving is not legitimate. Both are expressions of Praise.n6->n2n6->n5n7Thanks as praise"The OT does not have our independent concept of thanks. The expression of thanks to God is included in praise, ''it is a way of praising''" (27).n7->n6
Plea and Praise


Sitz im Leben

Based on the above conclusion, Westermann challenges Gunkel's conclusion that the Sitz im Leben of the Psalms is the Israelite worship service (the "cult"). "Gunkel's thesis that the Sitz-im-Leben of the Psalms is the cult is here accepted only conditionally. I have pointed beyond that all too common and indefinite word cult to the basic occurrence which transpires in 'cult' when men speak to God: the polarity of speaking to God as plea and praise." This is the real Sitz-im-Leben of the Psalms (154). 


===
title: Non-cultic Setting
model:
    removeTagsFromText: true
selection:
    excludeDisconnected: false
===
[Cultic Sitz im Leben]: The ''Sitz-im-Leben'' of the Psalms is the cult. #Gunkel
 <_ [Defining "Cult"]: "In the OT there is no absolute, timeless entity called 'cult'" (21).
  + [Gradual development]: "Worship in Israel... developed gradually in all its various relationships, those of place, of time, of personnel, and of instrumentality" (21).
 - [Part of life]: "The praise of God in Israel never became a cultic happening separated from the rest of existence" (155).
  + [Plea and praise]: The categories of the psalms "designate the basic modes of that which occurs when man turns to God with words: plea and praise" (153).


Argument Mapn0Cultic Sitz im LebenThe ''Sitz-im-Leben'' of the Psalms is the cult. n1Defining "Cult""In the OT there is no absolute, timeless entity called 'cult'" (21).n1->n0n2Gradual development"Worship in Israel... developed gradually in all its various relationships, those of place, of time, of personnel, and of instrumentality" (21).n2->n1n3Part of life"The praise of God in Israel never became a cultic happening separated from the rest of existence" (155).n3->n0n4Plea and praiseThe categories of the psalms "designate the basic modes of that which occurs when man turns to God with words: plea and praise" (153).n4->n3
Non-cultic Setting


Key Evidence

  • Biblical Psalms
  • Babylonian psalms

Impact

Westermann's work is "a significant refinement of Gunkel's categories of psalms."[2]

Important ideas

  • praise and lament (supplication) as the two basic Psalm categories
  • redefinition of psalms of "thanksgiving" as psalms of "declarative praise"
  • three-dimensional character of Lament: (1) "God, (2) the one who laments, (3) and the enemy" (169).
  • the movement of the Psalter from lament --> praise

Critique

Waltke 1966

"This book is one of the most important form-critical studies of the Psalms to appear in English... His literary anal­ysis of these basic categories is ex­cellent and helpful. In contrast, the author's exten­sive attempts to trace the develop­ment of these various categories is unrewarding and unconvincing be­cause, like most form critics, he fails to establish sufficient external controls."[3]

Brueggemann 2012

"More than anyone else. Westermann is the true heir of Hermann Gunkel and has sharpened Gunkel's genre analysis to show how the move 'from plea to praise' is the master narrative through which the entire Psalter functions... This book is the font of the enormous recent energy on the lament Psalms. Most of the recent studies of laments (including my own) are derivative from his work.[4]

Bellinger 2014

"Claus Westermann's essential insight of the distinction between praise and lament continues to hold promise for understanding the Psalms... The distinction between praise and lament is the crucial one for interpreters. In our current context, that may be the best route in explicating these types of psalms; there are basically two: praise and lament... The basic impulses of praise and lament may well provide the form-critical base needed for interpretation."[5]

References

  1. ↑ Walter Brueggemann, “Essential Books on The Psalms,” in Christian Century 129, no. 9 (May 2, 2012): 29.
  2. ↑ William Bellinger Jr, "Psalms and the Question of Genre," in The Oxford Handbook of the Book of Psalms (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).
  3. ↑ Bruce K. Waltke, “The Praise of God in the Psalms,” Bibliotheca Sacra 123, no. 489 (January 1966): 81–82.
  4. ↑ Walter Brueggemann, “Essential Books on The Psalms,” in Christian Century 129, no. 9 (May 2, 2012): 29.
  5. ↑ William Bellinger Jr, "Psalms and the Question of Genre," in The Oxford Handbook of the Book of Psalms (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).
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