Brueggemann's Bridge Between Form Criticism of The Psalms, Theology and Spirituality
Form Criticism' of the Psalms has been around for less than a hundred years. Prior to 1920's study use of the Psalms was pretty much limited to a historical-critical' approach and a Christological' approach. That is the establishing of who wrote what and why and the reading of psalms within the context of Christ', respectively. To fully appreciate how Brueggemann builds these bridges between form criticism, theology and spirituality we will first look at a basic understanding of the foundations of form criticism onto which Brueggemann offered his new schema. Secondly we shall look at Brueggemann's schema and how he builds and develops these bridges into theology and spirituality. Finally we shall be reflecting on Christian spirituality' That is; we shall be reflecting on how this schema helps us in our engagement with secular spirituality with particular reference to the area of urban hip-hop' and new punk'. I am basing my understanding and framework of spirituality on the work of Bob Mayo in his work Making Sense of Generation Y' (2006). In it he proposes that spirituality can be understood in two ways Formative spirituality; that is a level of spiritual understanding and awareness that everyone is born with and everyone has. And secondly transformative spirituality; that is a level of spiritual understanding and awareness that builds on formative spirituality into having a personal and communal outworking.
And so in answering How does Brueggemann build bridges between form criticism of the Psalms, theology and spirituality?' I shall be addressing spirituality in a Christian transformative understanding and from a secular formative spirituality understanding.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF FORM CRITICISM
As stated earlier it wasn't until the 1920's and the work of Hermann Gunkel, and his student Sigmund Mowinkel, that form criticism really started. Gunkel and Mowinkel observed that the Psalms only really had a very limited framework of approaches and styles The Hymn, Communal Lament, Individual Lament, Royal Psalms and Individual Thanksgiving. Further work identified five further, less common categories of Psalm Communal Thanksgiving, Wisdom, Pilgrimage, Entrance Liturgies and finally Mixed Poems .
Rauschenbusch has introduced many new ideas into the theological point of view. He still uses many of the same ideas of the “old theology”, but has just made some important changes to add his own thoughts on what theology should be about and how it should be used to influence people’s daily lives throughout the world. Rauschenbusch says,
Book Reviews. Dialog: A Journal of Theology, Vol. 42(3), 237-238. No changes needed as these are citations and should not be edited.
St. Albans Psalter Psalm 68 is not long, but it does have lots of detailed material to study the author’s choice of language, and the power of the images that are being conveyed to the readers through an emotional and sentimental way. The simplicity of this psalm’s gives it power, since it expresses an emotional despair in a careful shaped prayer, which comes from a human being in what seems to be a life-threatening situation. In the image and the content, the psalmist’s travels an arc of desperation to salvation, in a vivid personal plea to Christ to save him from what seems to be a swirling vortex of hopelessness that threatens to pull him under forever.
The Book of Psalms is split into five books according to the material contained in them. There are 150 psalms in the entire book and together they form the “hymnal of Israel” . The word ‘psalm’ means ‘praise’, a common theme throughout the book. Most Conservative Jewish and Christian theologians believe that 73 psalms were written by David, 12 by Asaph (a musician in David's court), 10 by the "Sons of Korah;" 2 by Solomon; 1 each by Ethan, Heman and Moses. Most were written in the hundred years following 1030 BCE . In contrast, most religious liberals believe that the psalms form and use in worship services originated from Pagan nations surrounding Israel.
Theological reflection, according to Bonhoeffer, must be much more than an academic exercise, and should directly impact the church (Vanden Berg, 2009). The essence of true Christianity, according to Bonhoeffer, rests in the necessary connection between truth and goodness (...
The Wesleyan quadrilateral is still relevant today as it provides a method for discovering the things of God, ourselves, and lets us know who God really is. For the purposes of this reflection paper, I would like to summarize the four components of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral and then reflect personally upon each term as how it relates to the Christian theologian. The first component of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral is scripture. The term scripture used in the Wesleyan Quadrilateral refers to God’s word. God’s word is found in the Bible.
Within mainstream society it seems as if there is not a great deal of emphasis on the contributions made by theologians in society, as well as contributions by theologians to religious thought. Particularly in Christendom, ecclesiastical assemblies are so consumed with vain ideas of worship, and content on hearing biblical messages that capitulate to their personal desires, that theological studies are often neglected. Yet the contributions theologians have made in society, and the impact these contributions have had on religious assemblies have been pivotal in guiding religious discourse on subjects such as ethics, morality, and social transformation. It is for this reason, that in this essay an attempt will be made to analyze three essays from three world-renowned theologians of the 20th century. The theologians are Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Walter Wink, all of which have produced the essays used for this analysis, and have written works that have completely challenged status quo religion, and changed the landscape of Christendom forever.
The goal of this book review on Engaging God’s World written by Cornelius Plantinga Jr. is to examine his ideas on redemption, vocation in the Kingdom of God, and to explore his thoughts on Christian education as described in the book’s epilogue. Cornelius Plantinga Jr. discusses several key notes regarding redemption, such as salvation. Vocation in the Kingdom of God is another subject he touches on in relation to the way God works within His Kingdom connecting us to the ‘King of Kings’ as his ambassadors on earth. Lastly, Plantinga explains his view on how Christian education is important to sustain ourselves, earth now, and the New Earth.
The first aspect Brueggemann describes is the inherency of The Bible. Readers must trust what it says and truly believe in the word of God. Brueggeman claims The Bible portrays that God created the world in love and will end suffering by making
Plantinga’s (2002) book Engaging God’s World consists of five parts: “Longing and Hope,” “Creation,” “The Fall,” “Redemption,” and “Vocation in the Kingdom of God.” Throughout the work, Plantinga references public speakers and activists, lyricists, philosophers, saints, and authors to help his audience connect to his perspective.
...s distributed in Theology 101 at the University of Notre Dame, Fremantle on 22 April 2008.
Boyd, Gregory A., and Paul R. Eddy. Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009.
Kerr, H. (1990). Readings in christian thought (2nd ed.). H. T. Kerr (Ed.). Nashville: Abingdon Press.
Peacocke, A. R. Theology for a Scientific Age: Being and Becoming--natural and Divine. Oxford, OX, UK: B. Blackwell, 1990. Print. (BL 240.2 .P352 1990)
Wolffe, J. (2008). Tradition and dissent in English Christianity. In C. Price (Ed.), The Arts Past and Present: Tradition and Dissent (pp. 71-106). Milton Keynes, England: The Open University.