After many frustrating hours compiling a list of available Psalm commentaries from different eras in the history of interpretation, I have finally given over to idea of making available the resources I have compiled, as well as asking for the generosity of my potential readers, in mapping Psalm commentaries throughout the past 2,500 years. This is a huge project, but one which needs to be done. My own meager bibliography is far from complete, but I have charted some decent groundwork on which others can hopefully help me build. In this first post of the project, I want to lay out my goals as well as note different elements I could really use some help with.
Description of the Project
This bibliography is an attempt to catalog the major works
on the Psalms throughout the history of interpretation.
It will inevitably be an incomplete bibliography, but one has to start
somewhere, and this represents a fairly comprehensive start. I am much indebted to the Ancient
Christian Commentary series for listing many of the early Fathers, as well as the
ICC commentary by Briggs for Medieval and Early Modern Commentators (even though his dates are not too reliable), and finally the
Wittstruck bibliographic volumes for more recent commentaries. The easiest way to organize the material was alphabetically. I’ve also
created a separate section on Jewish commentators when chronologically
appropriate.
I would love for others to
join in this project, and so if you’ve noticed I’ve missed any commentaries, do
tell me (andywitt5860_at_gmail.com). The
goal is to be exhaustive, and also be able to link to online resources if they can be found.
Areas of Help
- Where to find the early church fathers in the PG and PL volumes and other catalogs available. These are not complete as I have them.
- My Origen material is somewhat messy. I’m not entirely sure what is still considered his and what isn’t, so help here would be appreciated.
- I would love to be able to put links up on anything which is available online. There is a surprising amount which is available, and help linking to this would be great.
- I’ve followed the dates of Briggs on many medieval and early reformation period commentaries, but have found some of these dates to be unreliable. I’ve yet to check everything here, and so help in this would also be appreciated.
- Sermons and homilies. I know that the there are a number of series’ which have translated and reprinted sermons and homilies from church fathers that I’m completely unaware of. If you have these handy, it would be great to help compile them here as well.
