Tubemantravels has MOVED! 

After 4 1/2 years

445 posts

.....and lots of other things

tubemantravels has moved to another site. 

This is primarily due to formatting issues with blogger.

SO

Head here for the continued thoughts re. That God Should Be a Poet

www.tubemantravels.wordpress.com

That God Should be a Poet part II

What do the Psalms tell us about God?

(What’s their theology?)

We must take a broad approach when considering the theological message of the Psalms. This is due in part to the context from which this biblical book is written. The Psalms are primarily expressions of praise and lament from individuals and on behalf of communities who share relationship with Yahweh. 

Dumbrell notes that traditional approaches to the Psalms have fallen short for being “too theological andconceptual”[1]. The Psalter is not written simply as a doctrinal handbook in isolation. At its very core is an understanding of God written out of an intimate relationship with him and as expression of this. Thus, “the psalmists are covenant writers”[2], expressing the life lived in relationship with the one true God who reaches out to his people in covenantal relationship. 

As such “we expect the Psalms to reflect theology, but hardly to initiate it”[3].  

And reflect theology it certainly does! 

There is not a single Old Testament theology that is not touched upon by the Psalter.  

God as creator (Ps 8), redeemer (Ps 130), judge (Ps 1), king (Ps 97) and covenant giver (Ps 77), are constantly reflected upon and declared. 

God’s characteristics are repeatedly appealed to; His holiness (Ps 29), love (Ps 136) and justice (Ps 9). 

Yet the Psalms do far more than simply ‘list’ the attributes and nature of God. The depth that we are constantly drawn to is one that goes beyond a simple expression of these theologies to a personal account of what it looks like to know, be known by and to relate to such a God. It is from this depth of theology that we will see the real significance of the poetic form as the only literature capable of achieving such a task.

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_{[1] William Dumbrell, The Faith of Israel (Michigan: Baker 2002), 252}

_{[2] Peter Craigie, Word Biblical Commentary, Vol 19 (Texas :Word Books 1983), 40}

_{[3] Dumbrell, 252}

That God Should be a Poet part I

The Journey

Some time ago I blogged about a journey I had started that involved looking at the role of poetry in the Psalms. Over the pas few months I've read and thought much about this.

To get back into blogging I thought I'd share some thoughts over the next week from my time spent reading and thinking and praying in the Psalms. 

The Conclusion

Sometimes, although I must admit, not usually, it can be helpful to start with the end. So here is the basic one sentence conclusion I came to:

The significance of the poetic form for the theological message of the psalms is its ability to both express the transcendent nature of God whilst plumbing the depths of a covenant relationship with Him. 

The next few days I'll throw up a few thoughts that give this some flesh and bones by thinking through;

1.   What do the Psalms tell us about God?

2.   How does Poetry help this description of God?

3.     What else can poetry do for a worshipping community?