The Shape of Book i of the Psalter and the Shape of Human Happiness

Abstract

The Psalms are about what constitutes blessedness or happiness. This being the case, it makes sense that subsequent beatitudes would play a crucial role in the book of Psalms. This chapter investigates whether those subsequent beatitudes serve any discernable role either in the shaping of the Psalter, or parts thereof, or in communicating what may be the, or at least, a fundamental message of the book. The chapter focuses primarily on Book I but extends the investigation briefly to Books 11-V. It concludes with a consideration of how the Psalter's message about the shape of human happiness has been appropriated by and may continue to address the communities of faith which treasure the Psalms as Scripture, and how this message may also address a culture which claims to be decisively shaped by the Judea-Christian tradition, whose liturgical and devotional classic is the book of Psalms. Keywords: book of Psalms; human happiness; Judea-Christian tradition; Psalter

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