Creating Meaning in the Present by Reviewing the Past: Communal Memory in the Psalms of Solomon

Full title
Creating Meaning in the Present by Reviewing the Past: Communal Memory in the Psalms of Solomon
Updated By
Research notes

NR\Reader checked\31/12/2014

Reference type
Author(s)
Gordley, Matthew E.
Year
2014
Journal / Book Title || Series Title
Journal of Ancient Judaism
Volume
5
Issue / Series Volume
3
Abbreviated Series Name
JAJ
Pages
368-392
Work type
Label
19/01/2015
Abstract

This article examines Psalms of Solomon with an eye toward how these compositions may have functioned within the setting of a first-century B. C. E. Jewish community in Jerusalem. Several of these psalms should be understood as didactic hymns providing instruction to their audience through the medium of psalmody. Attention to the temporal register of Pss. Sol. 8, 9, and 17 shows how the poet’s use of historical review and historical allusion contributed to a vision of present reality and future hope, which the audience was invited to embrace. Issues relating to the place of these psalms in the tradition of Solomonic discourse are also addressed insofar as they contribute to the didactic function of this psalm collection.

Primary Texts: Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
Composition / Author
Passage
8^9
Composition / Author
Passage
17