Thanksgiving Psalms and the Formation of the Pious Self Open Access

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the social functions of the genre of biblical psalmody known as “thanksgiving psalms.” It argues that biblical thanksgiving psalms would have contributed to the formation of the self among ancient Israelite and early Jewish audiences, and it delineates the rhetorical strategies by which they would have done so. In contrast to earlier form-critical approaches, which emphasized the association of this genre with specific ritual acts, this dissertation focuses on how the rhetoric of thanksgiving psalms would have formed and influenced ancient Jewish audiences’ ideas about pious selfhood, especially in relation to experiences of survived affliction. The introduction in Ch. 1 outlines the dissertation’s main arguments, situates them in relation to earlier scholarship, and clarifies several points of the dissertation’s overall methodology. Ch. 2 lays the foundation for subsequent chapters by providing a profile of the thanksgiving genre and arguing that several of its features would have made it a particularly effective formational instrument. Chs. 3–5 then provide case studies of individual thanksgiving psalms (Psalms 30, 32, 34, 41, 66, 73, 116, and 118), clarifying the specific ways their rhetoric would have formed the self. Overall, the dissertation provides a fresh approach to this genre of ancient psalmody while also contributing to broader conversations about the history of piety in ancient Israel and early Judaism.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Thanksgiving Psalms as Instruments of Formation

3. Doxology in Thanksgiving Psalms

4. Didacticism in Thanksgiving Psalms

5. Exemplarity in Thanksgiving Psalms

6. Conclusion

About this Dissertation

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Religion
Subfield / Discipline	Hebrew Bible
Degree	Ph.D.
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Religion, Biblical Studies
Keyword	Psalms Self Ancient Judaism Ancient Israel Thanksgiving Psalms Hebrew Bible
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Carol A. Newsom, Emory University
Committee Members	Jacob L. Wright, Emory University Brent A. Strawn, Duke University Joel M. LeMon, Emory University

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