Imprecation as Divine Discourse

Barker suggests that the goal of theological interpretation is to discover God’s voice in the text. While he recognizes that this goal could encourage a subjective methodology, Barker offers a hermeneutic that clearly locates God’s voice in the text of Scripture. Utilizing the resources of speech act theory, Barker notes that texts convey meaning at a number of literary levels and that God’s appropriation of speech acts at these levels is not necessarily uniform for each genre. He also discusses how the Christian canon alters the context of these ancient speech acts, both reshaping and enabling their continued function as divine discourse. In order to demonstrate the usefulness of this hermeneutic, Barker offers theological interpretations of Psalms 69 and 137. He demonstrates how christological fulfilment and the call to forgive one’s enemies are determinative for a theological interpretation of these troubling psalms, concluding that they continue to form an essential part of God’s voice that must not be ignored.

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

Introduction

Part I. In Pursuit of Theological Interpretation

Chapter 1. Speech Act Theory

Chapter 2. Dual Authorship

Chapter 3. Speech Act Theory, Dual Authorship and Canonical Hermeneutics

Part II. Theological Interpretation and the Psalter

Chapter 4. The Divine Illocutions of the Psalter in Its Old Testament Context

Chapter 5. The Theological Interpretation of Imprecatory Psalms

Chapter 6. A Theological Interpretation of Psalm 137

Chapter 7. A Theological Interpretation Of Psalm 69

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index of Authors and Subject

Index of Scripture