Susan Gillingham – författare

The Psalms have resulted in controversies between Jews and Christians over the centuries and it is only from the mid twentieth century onwards that the two traditions have worked side by side in the academy at least. This is one of the very few volumes on the psalms to incorporate scholarship from both these traditions for nearly a century, and the result is a rich celebration of these extraordinary ancient songs. This innovative essay collection draws together internationally renowned Jewish and Christian scholars of the Psalms, with one tradition responding to the other, in areas as diverse as Qumran studies, Medieval Jewish interpretation, Reception History, Liturgical Psalters and Chagall's Church Windows and more recent Literary Studies of the Psalter as a Book. The range of topics chosen will be of interest not only to those specializing in the Psalms but also to others interested more generally in biblical studies. Several musical and artistic representations of selected psalms are also included and the book includes a colour plate section which illustrates several of the chapters.

For two-and-a-half millennia these two psalms have been commented on, translated, painted, set to music, employed in worship, and adapted in literature, often being used disputatiously by Jews and Christians alike. Psalm 1 is about the Law; at the heart of Psalm 2 is the Anointed One ('Messiah'), and together they serve as a Prologue to the rest of the Psalter. They have frequently been read as one composite poem, with the Temple as one of the motifs uniting them. So three themes--Jewish and Christian disputes, the interrelationship of these psalms, and the Temple--are interwoven throughout this reception history analysis. The journey starts in ancient Judaism, moves on to early Christianity, then to rabbinic and medieval Judaism, and so to Christian commentators from the early Middle Ages to the Reformation. The journey pauses to look at four important modes of reception--liturgical use, visual exegesis, musical interpretation, and imitation in English literature. Thirty-eight colour plates and numerous musical and poetic examples bring the work to life. The journey continues by looking at the debates about these psalms which have occupied scholars since the Enlightenment, and ends with a chapter which surveys their reception history in the light of the three key themes.

The Psalms have resulted in controversies between Jews and Christians over the centuries and it is only from the mid twentieth century onwards that the two traditions have worked side by side in the academy at least. This is one of the very few volumes on the psalms to incorporate scholarship from both these traditions for nearly a century, and the result is a rich celebration of these extraordinary ancient songs. This innovative essay collection draws together internationally renowned Jewish and Christian scholars of the Psalms, with one tradition responding to the other, in areas as diverse as Qumran studies, Medieval Jewish interpretation, Reception History, Liturgical Psalters and Chagall's Church Windows and more recent Literary Studies of the Psalter as a Book. The range of topics chosen will be of interest not only to those specializing in the Psalms but also to others interested more generally in biblical studies. Several musical and artistic representations of selected psalms are also included and the book includes a colour plate section which illustrates several of the chapters.

An invaluable Penguin Classics edition of one of the World's great religious texts You have turned my mourning into dancing;You have taken off my sackclothAnd clothed me with joyThe Book of Psalms has an extraordinary place in many cultures. These enigmatic Hebrew verses, brought together millennia ago, have in the English language been for centuries a seemingly inexhaustible well of prayer, thought, inspiration, interpretation and mystery.This fascinating new Penguin Classics edition gives the full text of the psalms in the New Revised Standard Version. Each psalm is followed by a short commentary exploring some of the ways in which the psalm can be understood – whether as ancient (and often unfamiliar) poetry or in terms of its influence on later writers. Sue Gillingham has spent many years studying these great, ageless texts and is an engaging and enlightening guide to their many wonders and mysteries. Her introduction is filled with fascinating material on the nature of the psalms, and their status as a religious and literary touchstone.

This title is designed for anyone wishing to undertake academic study of the Bible. It is an introduction to biblical studies, focusing on both ancient and modern approaches.

This is the first of a two-volume bible commentary covering the Psalms and examining the role of these biblical poems throughout Jewish and Christian history. Provides a fascinating introduction to the literary, historical, and theological background of psalmodyExamines the psalms through liturgy and prayer, study and preaching, translation and imitation, and musical composition and artistic illustrationIncludes illustrations of significant psalms, helpful maps, and an extensive bibliography; an expanded bibliography to accompany the book is also available at www.wiley.com/go/gillinghamA forthcoming second volume is planned, which will take an alternative psalm-by-psalm approachNow available in paperback, and published in the innovative reception-history series, Blackwell Bible Commentaries

Psalms Through the Centuries: Volume Two provides the first ever extensive commentary on the Jewish and Christian reception history of the first two books of the Psalter (Psalms 1-41 and 42-72). It explores the various uses of the Psalms, over two millennia, in translation and commentary, liturgy and prayer, study and preaching, musical composition and artistic illustration, poetic and dramatic imitation, and contemporary discourse.With lavish illustrations, using examples from both music and art, Psalms Through the Centuries: Volume Two offers a detailed commentary on each psalm, with an extensive bibliography, a large glossary of terms, and helpful indices. It is an ideal resource both for students and scholars in the academy and for lay people and ministers in church and synagogue.Psalms Through the Centuries is published within the Wiley Blackwell Commentary series.  Further information about this innovative reception history series is available at www.bbibcomm.info

Psalms Through the Centuries: Volume Two provides the first ever extensive commentary on the Jewish and Christian reception history of the first two books of the Psalter (Psalms 1-41 and 42-72). It explores the various uses of the Psalms, over two millennia, in translation and commentary, liturgy and prayer, study and preaching, musical composition and artistic illustration, poetic and dramatic imitation, and contemporary discourse.With lavish illustrations, using examples from both music and art, Psalms Through the Centuries: Volume Two offers a detailed commentary on each psalm, with an extensive bibliography, a large glossary of terms, and helpful indices. It is an ideal resource both for students and scholars in the academy and for lay people and ministers in church and synagogue.Psalms Through the Centuries is published within the Wiley Blackwell Commentary series.  Further information about this innovative reception history series is available at www.bbibcomm.info

This third volume completes the set of a groundbreaking reception history of the Psalter, the culmination of two decades' workIn Volume Threeof Psalms Through the Centuries: A Reception History Commentary on Psalms 73-151, the internationally recognized biblical scholar Professor Susan Gillingham examines the Jewish and Christian cultural and reception history of Books Three to Five of the Psalter. She examines the changing ways in which psalms have been understood in translations and commentaries, liturgy and prayer, study and preaching, music and art, poetic and dramatic performance, and political and ethical discourse.Lavishly illustrated with thirty colour plates, several black and white images and a number of musical scores, this volume also includes a comprehensive glossary of terms for readers less familiar with the subject and a full, selective bibliography complete with footnote references for each psalm. Numerous links to website resources also allow readers to pursue topics at greater depth, and three clearly organized indices facilitate searches by specific psalms or authors, or types of reception for selected psalms.This structure makes the commentary easy to use, whether for private study, teaching or preaching. The book also offers: A one-of-a-kind treatment of the reception history of the psalms that starts where most commentaries end— beginning with the trajectory of the Psalter’s multi-faceted reception over two millenniaSpecific discussions of both Jewish and Christian responses to individual psalmsPsalms Through the Centuries: A Reception History Commentary on Psalms 73-151, like the previous two volumes, will earn a distinctive place in the libraries of faculties, colleges, seminaries, and religious communities as well as in private collections of students and scholars of biblical studies, theology, and religion.