As I have been researching the reception of Psalm 51 I have found that there is no contemporary treatment of this psalm and its companions, the other six penitential psalms. We saw in S is for the Sixties that, to my knowledge, the 1960s were the last decade in which accessible basic introductions to the penitential psalms were published. This points to a surprising undervaluing of Psalm 51 and the penitential psalms. A remarkable fall from grace given their centrality in the medieval period and beyond. Our final post, Z is for Zeitgeist, will close our journey with a reflection on how various ages have made different psalms their Psalm of Psalms.
I aim to make some amends for the present undervaluing of Psalm 51 and the penitentials—if I had a rock band this would be its name. Whilst this series of posts has gone some way to doing this I will go a step further with the publication of a booklet on the penitential psalms around the end of 2021. If you would like to receive news of this publication later this year, then please email me— m.j.whiting@icloud.com —and I will keep you updated on how you can get a copy of what will be a modestly priced publication.
A more medium-term project is a work celebrating Psalm 51 as The Psalm of Psalms in which I hope to build on this A to Z project.
