Die Rettung Der Guten Durch Gott Und Die Selbstzerstorung Der Bosen: Ein Theologisches Denkmuster Im Psalter‪.‬

Die Rettung der Guten durch Gott und die Selbstzerstorung der Bosen: Ein theologisches Denkmuster im Psalter, by Claudia Sticher. BBB 137. Berlin: Philo Verlagsgesellschaft, 2002. Pp. 379. 56.00 [euro] (hardcover). ISBN 3825702898. Sticher's revised Passau University doctoral dissertation (2001) studies the theological concept of God's active or passive punishment of the wicked in the conceptual world of the Hebrew Psalter. More precisely, she looks at those psalms where the destiny of doers of good and doers of evil are dealt with in conjunction. Her intention is to determine if God's involvement in punishment is active or passive (or interchangeably both) in these texts. In the brief introduction to her topic (pp. 7-17) she includes the rationale for her textual selection, basing herself on prior studies and concordance analysis of particular terms involving the semantic domain of "enemy." As a result, Sticher identifies twenty individual psalms (1; 6; 14; 20; 25; 27; 36; 37; 40; 49; 57; 63; 70; 71; 91; 92; 104; 112; 118; 141) and a section of Proverbs 1-9 that include both classes of statements: the blessing of the righteous and the punishment of the evildoer. Sticher indicates her intent to work with the canonical final text (p. 13) and emphasizes both the unity of the Gesamtpsalter and the importance of the individual psalm. However, that does not imply that she eschews standard historical-critical paradigms; rather, following Zenger, she employs both methodological approaches (p. 17). Finally, concerning the dating of the complete Psalter, Sticher suggests a very late date in the milieu of the wisdom school that distanced itself from the temple aristocracy and their hellenizing tendencies (p. 17).