How is it possible that readers plunge into literary texts and experience them at first hand? Based upon this question, the “habilitation” explores the immediacy of the psalms. Immediacy is based on the fact that readers can identify with... more
How is it possible that readers plunge into literary texts and experience them at first hand? Based upon this question, the “habilitation” explores the immediacy of the psalms. Immediacy is based on the fact that readers can identify with the situations, experiences, emotions, characters and movements expressed in the texts. Therefore, the project aimed to find answer to the following research question: Which aspects of identification can be found in the psalms of the Hebrew Bible? So the aim of this project was it to analyse strategies of the texts, which enable readers to identify with the text-world described in the psalms.
Based on experiences of the author as Emergency Chaplain in a Care Team, a connection is made between the biblical »case of restoration« as it is illustrated by Ps 30, a psalm of thanksgiving ( תודה ), and church practice (with... more
Based on experiences of the author as Emergency Chaplain in a Care Team, a connection is made between the biblical »case of restoration« as it is illustrated by Ps 30, a psalm of thanksgiving ( תודה ), and church practice (with practicaltheological
considerations). The »religious topography« of Ps 30 is outlined:
Places and spaces of distress (»below«) as well as those of resolved distress (»above«) are described. The restoration is described as a rescue by the Lord, and for which appropriate thanksgiving is offered to him. Ps 30 contains a system of 4–5 layers of time. The present tense »Todah«-event (at the temple) is
the decisive moment. The Todah (thanksgiving) comprises, beyond the words used to express it, a ritual-liturgical sequence of events. This can be seen in Ps 116:12–19 as the fulfilment of a vow. In addition to that, the Todah has two addressees, namely a vertical and a horizontal one: It is addressed to God and honours him for the restoration. At the same time it also constitutes a confession,
witnessing about the act of salvation in the midst of the congregation and thus enacting a call to take part in the thanksgiving. The study concludes with considerations about transposing biblical thanksgiving into contemporary life contexts. It shows that thanksgiving as a biblical custom is practiced only seldom in ecclesiastical communities today. The contribution would like to give impulses for a re-institution of an adapted »Todah«, in its combination of a prayer of thanksgiving to God with testimony about restoration.
