PsalterMark

This blog has been somewhat neglected by me over the past 12 months, or so. This is not because of any loss of enthusiasm regarding the psalms. Quite the opposite. Much of my spare time has been spent on editing the book: The Penitential Psalms: The Rise, Fall, and Future of the Seven Psalms. I am pleased to say that this book is now officially in production with Wipf & Stock. What does that mean? It’s been written, edited, proofread, typeset, and the index has been constructed. The book will be published in 2026. In the meantime, I’ll be writing some short posts about this book and its subject, the Penitential Psalms. In this post we’ll consider the reason I edited this book, and explore one unexpected thread that emerged in this project.

Back in the first pandemic lockdown in 2020 I wrote a short introduction to Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130 and 143, i.e. the Penitential Psalms. This 24-page book (available here) was written to fill a gap among current publications, as these once ubiquitous seven psalms have faded into cultural and spiritual obscurity. This project complete, I still felt that there was so much more to be done in rediscovering these psalms for today. And so, I embarked on writing a thoroughgoing monograph.

A couple of years into this rather more challenging project I realised that what I was aiming at was untenable on any reasonable timescale. And more humbling, it was beyond me. So, I hit on a crazy notion. What if I could assemble a team of superhero experts? Then I wouldn’t have to attempt to become an expert on Old Testament exegesis of the psalms, Saint Augustine, Cassiodorus, monastic reception of the psalms, sacramental theology, Martin Luther, and John Donne, to name but seven of many arenas of scholarship. Over a few months I reached out to people I knew, and pestered many I did not. I did all I could to persuade them to join a collaborative project to produce the book I could not write myself. To my surprise, and delight, the idea gained traction. Eventually the book crystallized and found a publisher. Ten experts agreed to write chapters, and two others were happy to write a Foreword and Epilogue respectively. This left me to edit their work and write three chapters to ensure the project had the shape that I had discerned at the outset. This story arc is captured in the subtitle: The Rise, Fall, and Future of the Seven Psalms. More about this is a future post.

What of the unexpected thread that emerged? The more discerning reader might have pondered this post’s title. It quotes the last words of Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings. The creator of Sam is, of course, J. R. R. Tolkien one of a small number of Oxford Professors to become a household name. Our psalms book has a surprising number of Oxford connections. I count seven to match the Seven Psalms.

The first Oxford connection can be found on the cover. The artist Roger Wagner kindly agreed that one of his works could be used there. This is The Flowering Tree, a stained-glass window installed in St. Mary’s Church, Iffley (Oxfordshire, UK). For me it captures the positive trajectory of penitence. A journey made possible only in Christ and a path on which the darkness of sin becomes the flowering of new life here and now ahead of life in the age to come.

The second Oxford connection is by way of Sue Gillingham’s generous Foreword. Sue is of course both emeritus professor of the Hebrew Bible at the University of Oxford and emeritus fellow in theology at Worcester College, Oxford. Sue has many other past and ongoing Oxford connections, not least her three volume reception history of the Psalms published by Oxford’s most famous academic publisher, Blackwell.

Sue is also a co-founder of the Oxford Psalms Network, our third Oxford link. Back in November 2024 Jason Byassee presented a foretaste of his chapter on Saint Augustine and the Penitential Psalms. This prelude can be found here. Jason has written a commentary on 50 of the psalms, and on Augustine and the psalms. In our book he writes on both in the chapter: The Seven Penitential Psalms in the Hands of the Allegorist.

Some of the Oxford connections to the Seven Psalms date back much earlier. In the medieval period, when the seven psalms were at their height of popularity, some key exponents were educated at the University of Oxford. Richard Rolle (c.1290–1349), hermit and spiritual director, apparently failed to complete his Oxford theological education. Another Richard, Richard Maidstone (c.1340–1396), completed his studies there a little later in the same century. Both Richards made massive contributions in popularising the Psalms in the vernacular. Rolle’s English Psalter provided a Middle English translation of the Latin text of all 150 psalms (and the canticles). Maidstone’s concern was more tightly on the Penitential Psalms, and he produced a lengthy paraphrase of them. Both Rolle and Maidstone feature in our book.

Two centuries later John Donne had his own Penitential Psalms obsession. This obsession took the form of sermons on these seven psalms. He might have only preached on the first four of them – Psalm 6, 32, 38 and 51 – but 21 of his 160 extant psalms are on the penitentials. Donne studied briefly in Oxford at what is now Herford College. Today there is a massive ongoing project to capture all Donne’s extant psalms in a critical edition. And yes, you’ve guessed correctly it’s The Oxford Edition of the Sermons of John Donne. Emma Rhatigan is one of the editorial team for this project and has written the chapter on John Donne’s Penitential Psalms sermons in our book.

Our sixth link to Oxford come via Tim Judson. Tim wrote the chapter on Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Penitential Psalms. When he commenced this project, he was Lecturer in Ministerial Formation, Regent’s Park College, Oxford. Now he is research fellow at Las Casas Institute for Social Justice, Blackfriars Hall, Oxford.

Our seventh connection with the city of Oxford is someone who lives there, a scholar at the University of Oxford, who has written the final chapter of our book. But we’ll meet this Oxford poet in a later post.