Erhard S. Gerstenberger - Böcker

Erhard Gerstenberger (1932-2023) has been a highly influential exegete of the Psalms for several decades. He demonstrated how the Psalms were able to modulate the deepest feelings of individuals and communities, encompassing a wide variety of existential experiences relating to God and the world. Gerstenberger believed that psalmic poetry grew out of diverse and real-life situations.The first two essays in Charting the Course of Psalms Research deftly review the secondary literature. The first covers the 'lyrical literature' of the Old Testament, and the second considers the history of interpretation of the Psalms. The remaining essays explore the social settings of the Psalms and their connection to theology and communication theory, and include two chapter translated into English for the first time and edited by K.C. Hanson. Student and researcher alike will be enriched by the insights Gerstenberger provides.

This is a history of religion rather than a theological book. In the introduction, Erhard Gerstenberger argues that the Old Testament contains many different theologies and he pays attention to the context in which the Old Testament is studied. He follows this up with an outlined study of the history of Ancient Israel, and goes on to examine faith, cultic practices and ethics as illustrations of belief in God (or gods, or goddesses) in each of the different stages. The approach is essentially sociological with close attention paid to both archaeology and the biblical texts, and each chapter raises the issue of what these investigations mean for belief in the modern world.

Psalms, with an Introduction to Cultic Poetry, is Volume XIV of The Forms of the Old Testament Literature, a series that aims to present a form-critical analysis of every book and each unit in the Hebrew Bible. Fundamentally exegetical, the FOTL volumes examine the structure, genre, setting, and intention of the biblical literature in question. They also study the history behind the form-critical discussion of the material, attempt to bring consistency to the terminology for the genres and formulas of the biblical literature, and expose the exegetical process so as to enable students and pastors to engage in their own analysis and interpretation of the Old Testament texts. Erhard Gerstenberger begins this volume with an examination of the nature of cultic poetry, its role in ancient Near Eastern religion, and more specifically its role in the religion of Israel. He goes on to survey the genres of cultic poetry, including lament, complaint, and thanksgiving. He then focuses on the book of Psalms as an example of cultic poetry, first analyzing the book as a whole and then working through Psalms 1-60 unit by unit, discussing structure, genre, setting, and intention.The work is enhanced by extensive bibliographies and a glossary of genres and formulas that offers clear, thorough definitions with examples.

Die sumerische Literatur des 3. und 2. Jahrtausends v.u.Z. bietet auch zahlreiche hymnische Texte, die überwiegend der kultischen Tradition entstammen. Sie feiern Macht, Ansehen und Fürsorge von Gottheiten, Königen, Tempeln, usw. Erhard S. Gerstenberger analysiert, ausgehend von dem formelhaften, archaischen Heilsruf: "[Name] sei Preis!" = "[dGN] zà-mí" (vergleichbar dem biblischen "Halleluja"), die mannigfachen Aussagen des Lobpreisens (zà-mí). Er zeigt, dass es im sumerischen Lob nicht nur um die untertänige, pflichtgemäße Anerkennung von Übermächten geht, sondern um eine effektive Kraftübertragung von Seiten der Lobenden auf die Rezipienten der Huldigung. Stärkendes oder Existenz begründendes Lob kann also nicht nur von Machtträgern ausgehen. Auch das Geschöpf Mensch nimmt am Welt gestaltenden, erhaltenden, heilsamen Preisen teil, vor allem durch Bitten und Loben. Es übernimmt damit seine Verantwortung inmitten der geheimnisvollen Interaktionen aller kosmischen Wirkkräfte personhafter sowie unpersönlicher Art.