Music and worship in the book of psalms

Abstract

Jews and Christians alike always gave the Book of Psalms a prominent place in their spiritual life. According to St Athanasius, one important reason for this is that while most of Scripture speaks to us, the Psalms speak for us, and therefore, "unlike much biblical literature, these psalms originated from below". "Different people in different times find in the Psalms a way to express themselves in relating with God." "In the psalms, the human heart has found its own counterpart at all times, in sorrow and in happiness, as an individual and as a member of God's people." One can assume, in fact, that the Book of Psalms is a collection of psalms, many of which were written by individuals in specific circumstances, and actually for their personal use. However, while this can be true, there are surely other psalms that were originally composed with the intention of being used in the Temple liturgy. At times, it is difficult to say with certainty what the original purpose of a particular psalm was, because all we have is the text of the psalms as they are in the final collection. It is even harder when it comes to the theme of how these psalms were celebrated