The Place of the Psalms in the Intellectual Culture of the Middle Ages

Edited by Nancy van Deusen

Subjects: Music
Series: SUNY series in Medieval Studies
Paperback : 9780791441305, 236 pages, March 1999
Hardcover : 9780791441299, 236 pages, April 1999
Out of print (Hardcover)

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Table of contents

List of Figures and Tables

Chapter Contributors

Introduction
Grover Zinn

1. The Psalm as the Foundation of Anglo-Saxon Learning
George Brown

2. Psalm as Praise Poem in Medieval Celtic Traditions
Joseph Falaky Nagy

3. The Book of Psalms, Monasticism, and the Western Liturgy
James W. McKinnon

4. The Psalms in Monastic Prayer
Joseph Dyer

5. From Lectio Divina to the Lecture Room: The Psalm Commentary of Gilbert of Poitiers
Theresa Gross-Diaz

6. Ex utroque et in utroque: Promissa mundo gaudia, Electrum and the Sequence
Nancy van Duesen and Marica I. Colish

7. A Mother's Psalter: Pslams in the Moral Instruction of Dhuoda of Septimania
Marie Anne Mayeski

8. The Psalter on the Way to the Reformation: The Fifteenth-Century Printed Psalter in the North
Mary Kay Duggan

9. The Psalm and Social Action in Late Medieval England
Michael P. Kuczynski

Index

Surveys the influence of the Psalms in the Middle Ages, giving a unique window into the intellectual, spiritual, and emotional culture of the period.

Description

The Psalms were an important part of the education, daily life, and spiritual development of medieval clerics and monks, and they had a significant impact on lay culture as well. The Place of the Psalms in the Intellectual Culture of the Middle Ages surveys their influence, giving a unique window into the intellectual, spiritual, and emotional culture of the period.

[Contributors include George Brown, Marcia L. Colish, Mary Kay Duggan, Joseph Dyer, Theresa Gross-Diaz, Michael P. Kuczynski, Marie Anne Mayeski, James W. McKinnon, Joseph Falaky Nagy, Nancy van Deusen. ]

Nancy van Deusen is Professor of Music and Director of the Claremont Consortium in Medieval and Early Modern Studies at The Claremont Graduate School. She has written several books, including The Harp and the Soul: Studies in Medieval Music.

Reviews

"One of the most attractive things about this book is the variety it contains, while still having a thematic focus. Each contributor has taken a particular approach and, in general, a specific cultural setting for the use/interpretation of the Psalms. Taken as a whole, the book gives a broad and useful assessment of the Psalms in medieval culture. " — Grover A. Zinn, Oberlin College

"This book fills a void. Although more and more books have been published that have delved into various aspects of the Bible in the Middle Ages, including two books on the Song of Songs and many on specific prophets and other biblical characters, no general book on the Psalms in the Middle Ages has been printed—even though the Psalms were more basic to the experience that most medieval people had of the Bible than any other book of scripture. The idea of putting together such a volume deserves applause. " — Jan M. Ziolkowski, Harvard University