The Formation of the 'Book' of Psalms

David Willgren, The Formation of the “Book” of Psalms: Reconsidering the Transmission and Canonization of Psalmody in Light of Material Culture and the Poetics of Anthologies, Forschungen zum Alten Testament. 2. Reihe 88 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016).

Introduction

David Willgren set out to study in the field of Editorial Criticism, following in the steps of Gerald Wilson and others, but he came to question the presuppositions of editorial critics. "I became convinced that a study of the formation of the 'Book' of Psalms could never focus only on the collection itself, but had to consider various aspects of its transmission and use, always properly situated in the diverse and complex, yet fascinating scribal and material milieus in which it took shape" (vii). In this book, a slightly revised version of his [dissertation], "Willgren presents a thought-provoking challenge to the past few decades of Psalm scholarship, which has found intentionality behind the Psalter’s arrangement and formation."

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Summary

"By conceptualizing the ‘Book’ of Psalms as an anthology, and by inquiring into its poetics by means of paratextuality, David Willgren provides a fresh reconstruction of the formation of the ‘Book’ of Psalms and concludes, in contrast to the canonical approach, that the ‘Book’ of Psalms does not primarily provide a literary context for individual psalms. Rather, it preserves a dynamic selection of psalms that is best seen not as a book of psalms, but as a canon of psalms."

Outline

Part I: "Framing the Task at Hand" (the concepts of anthology and paratextuality)

Part II: "Anthologies Compared" (features of ancient anthologies)

Part III: "The Artifacts" (Dead Sea psalms scrolls)

Part IV: "In Search of the Artificial" (paratextual features of MT 'Book' of Psalms)

Part V: "Psalms on Repeat" (analysis of texts that quote/allude to Psalms)

Part VI: "The Formation of the 'Book' of Psalms" (summary and synthesis: how and why the 'Book' of Psalms was formed)

Key Concepts: Anthology & Paratextuality

David Willgren argues that the 'Book' of Psalms is best understood as an anthology, which he defines as "a compilation of independent texts, actively selected and organized in relation to some present needs, inviting readers to a platform of continuous dialogue" (25). Paratexts are "the very elements that bring a book together" (30), elements such as superscriptions, concluding doxologies, colophons, prefaces, etc. Willgren illustrates these twin concepts with the image of a garden of flowers (anthology is from the Greek word anthos, meaning "flower"):

"Like a garden of flowers..."

"Like a garden of flowers, the anthology invites you to enter into it, to look upon flowers of various kind, to linger the longest by the flowers you enjoy the most, perhaps even encouraging you to pick some into a bouquet. While some flowers would be appreciated by many, others are rarely picked. To facilitate the strolling, there would be paths (=paratexts) guiding the visitor to various parts of the garden, and providing various ways through it. Signs (=superscriptions) would describe different kinds of flowers, and fences could sometimes be put up to protect delicate flowers from careless feet" (28, parenthetical notes added).

Key Arguments

A basic presupposition of Editorial Criticism is that individual psalms should be interpreted in light of the final arrangement of the text. Willgren's book challenges this presupposition.

[Interpretive context]:"The final form of the 'Book' of Psalms provides an interpretive context... for the individual psalm" (19).
 - [Dynamic selection]: "The 'Book' of Psalms does not primarily provide a literary context for individual psalms, but rather preserves a dynamic selection of psalms" (392).
  + [Alternative configurations]: "There... existed alternative configurations of psalms during the entire formative process" (78).
   + <Dead Sea Scrolls>
   + <Anthologies compared>
  + [Ancient interpretation]:Ancient interpreters focused on individual psalms and placed no significance on their setting within the Psalter.
  + <Canonization>: The psalms were collected for their preservation (i.e., canonization), and "canonization relates primarily to the selection of compositions, and not to their arrangement" (79).

<Anthologies compared>: The surviving manuscripts of other ANE anthologies demonstrate significant variation and a lack of fixed sequences.

(1) The surviving manuscripts of ANE anthologies demonstrate significant variation and a lack of fixed sequences.
 + e.g., Old Babylonian "Decad", Hodayot scroll(s), 'Book' of the Twelve
(2) The 'Book' of Psalms is an anthology.

<Dead Sea Scrolls>: "If taking the witness of the 'psalms' scrolls at face value, one would have to assume that a great number of collections of psalms would have existed simultaneously during the entire process of the formation of the 'Book' of Psalms" (131).

The 'Book' of Psalms, to use another analogy, might be compared to a cookbook. "In these books, recipes are often gathered under titles and subtitles, juxtaposed by means of shared contexts of use... but it would not imply that two recipes should therefore be mixed together and served as a single dish" (389).

Key Evidence

• Dead Sea Scrolls
• Ancient anthologies (e.g., Sumerian Temple Hymns, Hodayot, Psalms of Solomon, Book of the Twelve, Homeric Hymns)

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Impact

Important ideas

• Editorial Criticism has to take seriously the ancient scribal and material culture.
• Editorial Criticism has to "take into account not only the psalm sequence of the MT, but also the psalm sequences of the LXX and Dead Sea Scrolls." MT priority must be defended rather than assumed.
• Synchronic analysis of the 'Book' of Psalms cannot be divorced from diachronic analysis.

Critiques

Peter Ho

Peter Ho (author of The Design of the Psalter) says that "there is a methodological disconnect between Willgren's work and those of his opponents (i.e., Editorial critics). Primarily, Willgren uses the comparative approach, which is based on selective and extant evidence. In contrast, canonical/editorial critical approaches to the Psalter generally proceed from the final text."

Benjamin Noonan

"In light of other biblical anthologies such as Proverbs and Song of Songs, both of which contain paratextual refrains and motifs at key junctures in their anthologies, we might also expect the Psalter to contain paratexts at the 'seams' of its five books. The general movement from lament to praise that the book of Psalms exhibits suggests that the doxologies, which highlight praise, could indeed function as paratexts. Likewise, the Psalter’s frequent juxtaposition of wisdom/Torah and royal psalms—or, at least, psalms containing these motifs—makes it unlikely that the juxtaposition of a wisdom/Torah psalm (Ps 1) and a royal psalm (Ps 2) at the beginning of the Psalter has no bearing on the way the anthology should be read. Unfortunately, Willgren has largely ignored the likelihood that psalm type distribution has a paratextual function."