Praying to Christ through the Psalms

The Psalter, of course, has long been the backbone of hymnody in the Church, even if there was a certain Byzantine tendency to replace psalmody with later poetry in some of the Divine Office, Matins especially: edifying, beautiful poetry to be sure, but a displacement nonetheless if Baumstark's laws of liturgical development are to be believed, and I see no reason to doubt them.

A book released this summer takes a scholarly examination of the use of the Psalter in Eastern monastic practice: James F. Wellington, Christe Eleison!: The Invocation of Christ in Eastern Monastic Psalmody c. 350-450 (Peter Lang, 2014), 241pp.

About this book we are told:

For centuries the Jesus Prayer has been leading Orthodox Christians beyond the language of liturgy and the representations of iconography into the wordless, imageless stillness of the mystery of God. In more recent years it has been helping a growing number of Western Christians to find a deeper relationship with God through the continual rhythmic repetition of a short prayer which, by general agreement, first emerged from the desert spirituality of early monasticism. In this study James Wellington explores the understanding and practice of the psalmody which underpinned this spirituality. By means of an investigation of the importance of psalmody in desert monasticism, an exploration of the influence of Evagrius of Pontus and a thorough examination of selected psalm-commentaries in circulation in the East at this time, he reveals a monastic culture which was particularly conducive to the emergence of a Christ-centred invocatory prayer.

The Harp of Prophecy

The University of Notre Dame Press sent me their fall catalogue last week, and in it are several books of note, including this collection edited by Paul Kolbet and one of the leading patristics scholars of our time (and secretary of the North American Orthodox-Catholic dialogue), Brian Daley: The Harp of Prophecy: Early Christian Interpretation of the Psalms (UND Press, November 2014),344pp.

About this collection, which includes at least one Orthodox author, we are told:

The Psalms generated more biblical commentary from early Christians than any other book of the Hebrew and Christian canon. While advances have been made in our understanding of the early Christian preoccupation with this book and the traditions employed to interpret it, no study on the Psalms traditions exists that can serve as a solid academic point of entry into the field. This collection of essays by distinguished patristic and biblical scholars fills this lacuna. It not only introduces readers to the main primary sources but also addresses the unavoidable interpretive issues present in the secondary literature. The essays in The Harp of Prophecy represent some of the very best scholarly approaches to the study of early Christian exegesis, bringing new interpretations to bear on the work of influential early Christian authorities such as Athanasius,  Augustine, and Basil of Caesarea. Subjects that receive detailed study include the dynamics of early Christian political power, gender expressions, and the ancient conversation between Christian, Jewish, and Greek philosophical traditions. The essays and bibliographic materials enable readers to locate and read the early Christian sources for themselves and also serve to introduce the various interdisciplinary methods and perspectives that are currently brought to bear on early Christian psalm exegesis. Students and scholars of theology and biblical studies will be led in new directions of thought and interpretation by these innovative studies.

The contributors include: Gary A. Anderson, Paul M. Blowers, Michael Cameron, Ronald R. Cox, Brian E. Daley, S.J., Luke Dysinger, O.S.B., Nonna Verna Harrison, Ronald E. Heine, David G. Hunter, Paul R. Kolbet, Michael C. McCarthy, S.J., and John J. O’Keefe.