Vindicating Vengeance and Violence? : Exegetical Approaches to Imprecatory Psalms and their Relevance for Liturgy

Due to their calls for vengeance and violence the so called imprecatory psalms are generally considered ethically difficult and subsequently omitted from liturgy. This becomes particularly evident in breviaries, such as the Roman Catholic Church’s Liturgy of the Hours, where both entire psalms and individual verses have been omitted. The widespread omission of lament psalms (including imprecatory passages) has been criticized, primarily from a pastoral perspective, which instigates a need for worshippers and liturgists to find hermeneutical strategies that can help navigate the difficulties associated with imprecatory psalms. Through a close-reading of commentary literature on Pss. 58, 109, 137 and 139 this thesis seeks to answer three guiding questions: (1.) What ‘generic hermeneutical approaches’ are currently advocated by biblical scholars writing commentary (primarily) for and from within a Western-Christian tradition? (2.) How are these popular generic hermeneutical approaches relevant for, and applicable to, the liturgical use of psalms? (3.) Why have imprecatory psalms remained an issue for liturgists, despite the existence of solid hermeneutical guidelines offered and sustained by biblical scholars? The first question is answered through the process of ‘metacommentary’ of a selection of psalm-commentaries as primary material resulting in the identification of three prominent 'generic hermeneutical approaches.' A 'generic hermeneutical approch' is a hermeneutical approach that is applicable to imprecatory passages at large, supported by multiple scholars, and relevant regardless of the reader’s religious affiliations. The two latter research-questions are answered by drawing attention to the preconceived notions that undergird the popular generic hermeneutical approaches and by reviewing them in light of perspectives gained from philosophy of law, philosophy of language, and psychology. This re-evaluation of serves the purpose of highlighting weaknesses in the approaches that help answer why imprecatory psalms have continued to pose challenges for piety despite the plethora of exegetically based advice available to interested readers on how to mitigate ‘difficult’ psalms. The philosophical and interdisciplinary inputs also indicate ways in which the exegetical discourse can develop in order to become more relevant for worshipping communities who use the Book of Psalms as a book of prayer