Overview

Psalms that seem to vindicate vengeance and violence are generally omitted from liturgy, as exemplified in most breviaries used by worshipping communities around the world. Although seldom read, the so-called cursing psalms are known to many as their imprecatory passages pose challenges for readers who wish to use the entire Book of Psalms as their book of prayer. Because passages that call for vengeance and violence are present throughout the psalm collection and often “intertwined with the most exquisite things,” as noted by C. S. Lewis, both liturgists and laypeople need to find substantial hermeneutical strategies that can help answer what to make of imprecatory passages. But despite the ample exegetical advice made available through commentary literature, past and present, worshippers are stuck at a point of convergence between exegetical support and liturgical rejection. Through the process of metacommentary on Psalms 58, 109, 137 and 139, Elisabet Nord identifies three popular and generic hermeneutical approaches often applied to cursing psalms, including the tacit preconceived notions of these prominent approaches. The latter helps to uncover the liturgical relevance—and sometimes lack thereof—of scholarly advice on how to interpret and navigate psalms calling for vengeance and violence as prayers.

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9781978715752

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Reviews

This is an exceptionally thorough analysis of the issues surrounding the actual and potential use of imprecatory Psalms in worship. Nord explores four imprecatory Psalms, three reading strategies (pertaining to justice/vengeance, reading from 'below', and cathartic expression), two levels of reading (commentary and metacommentary), and a subtle use of one key philosophical tool, speech act theory. She offers a perceptive analysis, full of hermeneutical insights, of the difference between what commentators suggest and how worshippers experience these Psalms in practice. This is a most welcome study of an area of pressing importance at the intersection of scripture and Christian worship.--Richard S. Briggs, Durham University

Elisabet Nord addresses a predicament: despite abundant scholarly discourse recommending liturgical use of the imprecatory Psalms, those scholarly discussions do not result in greater use of or comfort with these prayers in liturgical contexts. As Nord addresses trends and tendencies evident in Psalms commentaries with sensitivity and finesse, she explores the space between scholarly discourse and what liturgical leaders and worshippers find persuasive. Nord's challenging and welcome metacommentary invites scholars to reflect about the audience and goals of the commentary genre. An important and thought-provoking book. This impressively researched account exposes the need for a dialogue between those liturgists who advise the exclusion of imprecatory Psalms from worship, and academics whose commentaries infer that such psalms pose no problem, properly understood. Nord's own commentary on the most difficult psalms--137, 58, 109, and 139--and her examination of the three key arguments used to include such psalms--defending justice, exonerating by circumstance, and advocating catharsis--will provoke responses from academy and the church alike. Her conclusion, that every argument fails in its attempt to advocate 'virtuous violence, ' whether undertaken by humans or by God, demonstrates that further hermeneutical study of imprecatory psalms is vital. An engaging and challenging read! This is an exceptionally thorough analysis of the issues surrounding the actual and potential use of imprecatory Psalms in worship. Nord explores four imprecatory Psalms, three reading strategies (pertaining to justice/vengeance, reading from 'below', and cathartic expression), two levels of reading (commentary and metacommentary), and a subtle use of one key philosophical tool, speech act theory. She offers a perceptive analysis, full of hermeneutical insights, of the difference between what commentators suggest and how worshippers experience these Psalms in practice. This is a most welcome study of an area of pressing importance at the intersection of scripture and Christian worship.

Author Information

Elisabet Nord works in the Church of Sweden and holds a Ph.D. in Old Testament Studies from Lund University.

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