Psalms Through the Centuries, Volume 3. Susan Gillingham

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СКАЧАТЬ of Two Psalms: The Reception of Psalms 1 and 2 in Jewish and Christian Tradition was published by Oxford University Press in 2013. Its length was 140,000 words, and even allowing 70,000 words for each psalm, it was thirty-five times as much as I could allow for each of the 150 psalms in this present project. So for this Wiley-Blackwell commentary I tried to be as selective as possible, but by the time I had reached Psalm 89 the length was well over the limit originally agreed, and by 2015 it became clear that the commentary needed to be extended to a third volume. Understandably, these were difficult negotiations, and again I was extremely grateful to John Sawyer, David Gunn, Christopher Rowland, and Rebecca Harkin (in her new role as Publisher for Humanities) for being so persistent on my behalf. Volume Two was published in 2018, actually finishing at Psalm 72 to achieve the required word count: Psalm 89 would have been a more natural place, coming at the end of Book Three, but this was not a time to argue for niceties.¹

      As I gained speed from experience, Volume Three has taken only three years to write. The format is as for Volume Two, except that here I often approach more contentious psalms thematically, selecting two or three key issues arising from their reception, integrating these themes into the template outlined above. This third volume has been supported by two younger editors representing the Wiley Blackwell Commentary Series, Andrew Mein (St. Andrews) and Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer (Örebro). Their different skills have vastly improved this present manuscript: Lena has given it meticulous attention to detail and Andrew has brought to it many linguistic, musical and historical insights. I am equally grateful to Catriona King, now Director of the Global Publishing Team at John Wiley & Sons, and also to Juliet Booker, who did so much to promote the publication of Volume Two and prepare the way for Volume Three. Hannah Lee has taken important initiatives in the editorial management of this volume, and to my great relief both the copy-editor for Volume Two (Carolyn Holleyman) and the indexer for that volume (Caroline Jones) agreed to use their skills in this present volume as well.

Over this twenty-five year period it is difficult to single out the legacy of particular research assistants on this third volume. John Ritzema (London) and Natasha O’Hear (St. Andrews) deserve special mention, but Holly Morse (Manchester) undoubtedly stands out: she worked on the data base for both Volumes One and Two, and her contribution in matters of art history has been invaluable for Volume Three as well. Danny Crowther (Oxford) has also done sterling work, complementing Holly in his text-critical skills and in his passion for early Jewish reception. He has honed the data-base, making it more easy to access, managed the bibliographical resources, prepared many of the resources psalm by psalm, and has read through the text more times than I can remember. Lucinda Armstrong, undergraduate at Worcester and now a doctoral student, stepped in at the last minute to undertake some final proof-reading. I am grateful she did. Finally, I am also indebted to Eleanor Vivian, another undergraduate student turned graduate, now researching at Birmingham University, for her eagle eye for detail and her work on tedious end-projects such as the Glossary, list of Abbreviations, and the final Bibliography. It is now becoming a cliché, but it is nevertheless sincere: the mistakes that remain are solely my responsibility.

      Volume Three was begun in employment and completed in retirement. In 2018 Worcester College and the Faculty of Theology and Religion together granted me one essential, final sabbatical. I owe a huge debt to Peter Groves for having taken on administrative and tutorial responsibilities in my absence: Peter’s insights at the academic level have provided a vital support throughout the entire project. I am also grateful for the use of the Bartlett Sisters’ Theology Fund, supported mainly by alumni from Worcester College, for this has paid for much of my research assistance. Various College Officers and Fellows at Worcester played a major part in launching this third volume: for all their practical support in so many ways my thanks extend to Afifi Al-Akiti, Mark Bainbridge, Coleen Day, Scott Scullion, Elizabeth Smith, Emma Standhaft, Carmy Strzelecki, and Phillipa Tarver.

      Post retirement I have been dependent for ongoing funding from the trustees of the St. Luke’s College Foundation, Exeter. David Benzie and his trustees provided for the costs of the permissions and the production of images, and then also for payment of the indexing and other research assistance costs. Their continual support throughout this entire project has been vital.

      Academic colleagues in the Faculty of Theology and Religion here at Oxford have provided much specialist advice. Above all I have valued the support of John Barton—mentor, colleague, and friend of over forty years. Other Faculty members who have also given this project their support in different ways include Hywel Clifford, John Day, John Goldingay, John Jarick, Justin Jones, Laura Quick, Frances Roach, Deborah Rooke, Katherine Southwood, and Jenn Strawbridge. Outside my Faculty Matthew Cheung-Salisbury has been a continuous source of encouragement: his unfailing patience has vastly improved my account of the musical and liturgical reception of different psalms. Outside Oxford, Nicolas Bell, Librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge, has offered me invaluable advice about various illustrated Psalters: the Eadwine Psalter appears many times in this volume and has been used in two of the Plates.

Two Oxford-based research centres have continued to provide new incentives. The Centre for the Reception History of the Bible has broadened my horizons of what reception is and does, and I am grateful to Chris Joynes, its director, for the opportunity to speak there and to learn from other projects. The Psalms Network which works under the auspices of The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (‘TORCH’) has been a major inspiration, not least through working with my co-founders, Francis Leneghan and Helen Appleton, whose expertise in Medieval English Literature as it impinges on the Book of Psalms has taught me much. Together we have produced a wide variety of events concerned with all aspects of the reception of psalmody, some of which have been incorporated here. Other TORCH members who deserve mention are Elizabeth Solopova (Oxford) who helped with my research on illuminated Psalters, and Beatrice Groves (Oxford) who has been a conversation partner on the psalms in Early Modern literature. Other members have freely allowed their own work to be used in this book: Roger Wagner (Oxford) and Michael Jessing (Peebles) have produced some of the artwork; David Mitchell (Brussels) has produced musical scores intuiting ancient psalmody; Alexander Massey (Oxford) has made invaluable contributions on Jewish psalmody; and Edward Clarke (Oxford) has offered several of his poems. Howard Goodall’s memorable performance and explanation of his own psalm compositions through the auspices of TORCH made me work on the relevant psalms in a new way, and Andy Mackay (Roxy music), also associated with TORCH, prompted me to study the reception history of other psalms in a different context, namely for his performance ‘3 Psalms’ at Southbank.

      My membership of two societies has also been invaluable in this long-term project. The Society for Old Testament Study, for which I served as President from 2018 to 2019, has been an important resource in bringing together colleagues with distinctive sorts of expertise; they include James Aitken (Cambridge), Margaret Barker (Borrowash), Richard Briggs (Durham), David Clines (Sheffield), Katharine Dell (Cambridge), Graham Davies (Cambridge), David Firth (Bristol), Bill Goodman (Sheffield), Charlotte Hempel (Birmingham), Alastair Hunter (Glasgow), Philip Johnston (Cambridge), Paul Joyce (London), Shioban Dowling-Long (Cork), Heather McKay (Edge Hill), Jonathan Magonet (London), Sean Maher (Carlow), James Patrick (Oxford), Cat Quine (Nottingham), David Reimer (Edinburgh), David Shepherd (Dublin), Rebecca Watson (Market Harborough), Jenni Williams (Oxford), Hugh Williamson (Oxford) and Paul Winchester (Oxford). The Psalms Section of the Society for Biblical Literature has also been an ongoing resource: I am grateful for the support of Karl Jacobson (Minneapolis), Rolf Jacobson (Minnesota), Chris Jones (Jefferson City), Joel LeMon (Atlanta), and Brent Strawn (Durham, NC), and most especially Melody Knowles (Alexandria).

The legacies of †Erich Zenger, †Klaus Seybold, †Peter Flint, and †Frank-Lothar Hossfeld have been considerable, as my footnotes amply testify. Between the publication of Volume Two and Volume Three I have participated in various psalms projects globally, some in memoriam of these extraordinary colleagues, and hearing and giving papers and producing articles have offered me further insights in writing up the commentary. Colleagues who have been especially important include Johannes Bremer (Bochum), Alma Brodersen (Bern), Susan Docherty (Birmingham), Christian Frevel (Bochum), Erhard Gerstenberger (Marburg), Friedhelm Hartenstein (München), Bernd Janowski (Tübingen), СКАЧАТЬ