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HAROLD W. ATTRIDGE and MARGOT E. FASSLER (eds.), Psalms in Community: Jewish and Christian Textual, Liturgical, and Artistic Traditions (SBLSymS 25; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003). Pp. xiii + 474. Paper $49.95.
This unique volume had its genesis in a Tercentennial Conference at Yale University entitled "Up with a Shout" (Ps 47:1), held in January 2001 (not January 2002 as the editors report in their preface-I was one of the attendees). Attracting Jewish and Christian religious professionals and laity together with scholars, musicians, artists, and healers, conference participants were especially attentive to "what happens when texts are formed in community and continue to live in community" (p. 1). Entitled "Introduction: The Psalms in Two Religious Traditions," the initial unit in this collection presents two instructive essays attesting the differing natures of liturgical psalmody in Judaism and Christianity: Robert F. Taft, "Christian Liturgical Psalmody: Origins, Development, Decomposition, Collapse" (pp. 7-32); and Lawrence A. Hoffman, "Hallels, Midrash, Canon, and Loss: Psalms in Jewish Liturgy" (pp. 33-57).
The bulk of this publication hosts twenty-one wide-ranging essays and two homilies that are aligned under seven well-chosen headings. Part 1, "Psalms in the Life of Ancient Israel," consists of the following essays: Esther M. Menn, "Sweet Singer of Israel: David and the Psalms in Early Judaism" (pp. 61-74); John J. Collins, "Amazing Grace: The Transformation of the Thanksgiving Hymn at Qumran" (pp. 75-85); and Patrick D. Miller, "The Psalter as a Book of Theology" (pp. 87-98). Part 2, "Psalms in Christian Origins," presents...