Essential research on the relationship between the Persian empire and the the formation of the book of Psalms

In this latest entry in the Ancient Israel and Its Literature series, W. Dennis Tucker, Jr. examines the role of Persian imperial ideology in the creation of psalms in Book 5 of the Psalter and in the shaping of the book of Psalms as a whole. Although much research has been conducted on the relationship between the Persian empire and the creation of biblical texts, the book of Psalms has been largely absent from this discussion. Tucker seeks to rectify this omission by illustrating that Book 5 constructed a subtle anti-imperial ideology in response to the threats imposed from all empires both past and present.

Features:

• Close study of the psalms portrayal of human power to that of Yahweh


• Comparison of Achaemenid propaganda to the ideology found in the psalms


• Evidence drawn from Persian iconography and inscriptions

W. Dennis Tucker, Jr. is Associate Professor of Christian Scriptures and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He is the author of Jonah: A Handbook on the Hebrew Text (Baylor University Press), the co-author of The Story of Israel: A Biblical Theology (InterVarsity Press), and the co-editor of Diachronic and Synchronic: Reading the Psalms in Real Time (T&T Clark).