German old testament scholar, founded form criticism. In fact, the study of the book of psalms authorshipas well as its dates of composition, settings, purposes, uses, and transmissionis a major field in biblical studies. Hermann gunkel, a highranking biblical scholar, was born in springe, germany, near hanover, and obtained his formal education at the universities of gottingen, giessen, and leipzig. Hermann gunkel was born in springe, germany, in 1862. He book of psalms, probably the most familiar part of the. He went on to teach in berlinwhere he made many interdisciplinary contacts. He identified the psalms with ritual cultic acts in israels worship cf. As mentioned gunkel had a great influence in terms of form critical and through form criticism, he sought.
God in the psalter, petition and praise, or what gunkel called lament. He draws on an extensive knowledge of religious and folk literature of the middle east to situate the israelite religion and literature. The formcriticism of the psalms 1 introduction the classification of the psalms according to their content is by no means new. John collins also provides a guide in his introduction to the ot. After teaching new testament for one year at gottingen in 1888, gunkel devoted the rest of his academic career to old testament studies at halle 188993, berlin. Although perowne does deal with technical issues like textual problems and the hebrew text, he is also helpful in providing neat summaries of the psalms messages as well as helpful rabbinic and christian interpretations. Horner gunkel, hermann, 18621932 view online borrow. Sigmund mowinckel, the psalms in israels worship the biblical resource series aubrey r.
The book of psalms is a sizable collection of musical poems and prayers of diverse authorship and form. An evangelical reading of the psalms without gunkel martin g. When two or more works by the same author are quoted, the source is identified by the abbreviations indicated above. Parallelism and its history new haven, 1980 sarna, nahum. Hermann gunkel 23 may 1862 11 march 1932, a german old testament scholar, founded form criticism. It is their contributions which we will look at in the coming paragraphs. Here i survey form, sociohistorical, linguistic, redaction, and literary critical approaches to the psalter. Introduction since the latter half of the last century, evangelical theology has tried to. Hj kraus also provides a good guide on classifying psalms and their content. His major works cover genesis and the psalms, and his major interests centered on the oral tradition behind written sources and in folklore.
The insightful analysis of hermann gunkel and the controversial theory of sigmund mowinckel have sparked much discussion in a previously stagnant area of theology. Still, introduction to psalms represents gunkels formcritical method at its. The references to authors in this introduction to the psalms are to their works listed in this bibliography. Biography as the founder of form criticism, hermann gunkels importance. An historical commentary, james houston, bruce waltke.
A translation of the 1910 edition of commentary by gunkel 186219, a pioneer of formcritical and historyofreligion methods of studying the old testament. A leading member of the history of religions school, he. Visit our beautiful books page and find lovely books for kids, photography lovers and more. A translation of the 1910 edition of commentary by gunkel 186219, a pioneer of form critical and historyofreligion methods of studying the old testament. His life of study and teaching was spent in germany, and he died there in 1932.
Form criticism and genre the methods originator, hermann gunkel 18621932, proposed that a texts genre is indicated by its structural form and is bound to a particular social setting and function. Anderson, a critical introduction to the old testament, duckworth, london. Hermann gunkel download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi. The psalms as christian lament, james houston, bruce waltke. Zondervan publishing company, reprint of 1878 edition. Books or articles cited only occasionally are not all listed in this bibliography, and, of course, not all. He also became a leading representative of the history of religions school. Hi robert, id start with this guide to gunkel s classification. Educated at the university of gottingen, gunkel taught there and at halle, berlin, and giessen. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Known in hebrew as tehillim songs of praise, the psalter the. As a result, gunkel attempted to organize the writings of the bible according to their genre.
Psalms are independent literary units that have grown out of, and speak to, a wide range of individual and communal human experience. The psalms are a unique collection of writings which emerge from times in the old testament. Psalms, theology of definition and meaning bible dictionary. A formcritical introduction hermann gunkel on free shipping on qualifying offers. Hi robert, id start with this guide to gunkels classification. A formcritical introduction by hermann gunkel goodreads. We can see them as the heartfelt cry for deliverance of the needy, whether from sickness, enemies or sin, but always connected either actually or potentially with praise amongst gods people. A myriad of critical methods are available for the interpreter the psalms. The lament finds its fulfilment in the psalm of declarative praise. The formcriticism of the psalms usually a vow of praise eg ps.
He combines two of gunkels minor classes to form a genre of psalms of instruc. A formcritical introduction paperback june 1, 1967. A formcritical analysis of the psalter attempts to identity individual psalms as conforming to or deviating from the conventional model or form of the psalm. Browns book is an attempt to restore the poetic and imaginative. The most important contribution to modern scholarship on the psalter has been the work of hermann gunkel, a german biblical scholar, who applied form criticism to the psalms. A formcritical introduction highlighted by gunkel, hermann, horner, t. His isolation of various family and cultic legends in the book of genesis and his identification of different types of psalmic compositionsuch as the psalm of. Nov 15, 2017 here i survey form, sociohistorical, linguistic, redaction, and literary critical approaches to the psalter. This is a classic and excellent description of 20thcentury scholarship related to the psalms. Even some of the titles within the text describe categories such as mizmor, sir, shiggaion, miktam, maskil, prayer and praise1, but these are mostly hard to define and may often refer to musical style rather than verbal content. Introduction to psalms bible commentary theology of work. He is known as the founder of the formcritical approach to the interpretation of sacred scripture. The title is derived from the greek translation, psalmoi. Mar 24, 2008 hi robert, id start with this guide to gunkels classification.
Hermann gunkel, born may 23, 1862, springe, hannover ger. Byu scholarsarchive citation nickerson, matthew 1997 nephis psalm. Hermann gunkel, german old testament scholar who was one of the first to develop the method of biblical criticism known as form criticism. Form critical approach this is the 5th lecture in the online. Form critical approach this is the 5th lecture in the online series of lectures on psalms by dr bruce waltke.
Lament to praise reaching a crescendo of praise in psalms 146150. See hauge, who tries to demonstrate that the basic. Lt108 rationalism in the historicalcriticism of hermann. Discuss the contribution of hermann gunkel and sigmund. The psalms from greek psalmos song are poems and hymns, dating from various periods in the history of israel, that were assembled for use at public worship and that have continued to play a central role in the liturgy and prayer life of both jews and christians. But he was unable to complete his final work on the psalms. Hermann gunkel is the pioneer of form criticism as it relates to the. A formcritical introduction paperback june 1, 1967 by hermann gunkel author see all 4 formats and editions hide other formats and editions. The severe suffering of his final months of life forced him to hand over his incomplete manuscript, at christmastime 19311932, to his pupil joachim begrich.
Form criticism as a method of biblical criticism classifies units of scripture by literary pattern and then attempts to trace each type to its period of oral transmission. A form critical introduction hermann gunkel on free shipping on qualifying offers. Provides a short booklength introduction to the research questions that emphasizes the formcritical, literary, and poetic aspects of psalms study. Form critical approach free online biblical library. The tools of form criticism and comparative literary analysis especially comparisons to ugaritic literature have figured highly in psalms scholarship. The formcritical method of gunkel and mowinckel revealed the psalters cultic aspect, which stood far removed from its use in christian piety and worship. Above all, gunkel emphasized the significance of the community as opposed to individual biblical authors and spelled out the ways in which tradition is handed down orally within the community. As a result, gunkel attempted to organize the writings of. Form criticism is the english name for the study of the literature of the bible that seeks to separate its literary units and classify them into types or categories. Gunkel, hermann, the psalms, a formcritical introduction. It has been observed that no book has suffered a more marked disjunction between traditional readings and modern historicalcritical ones than the book of psalms.