It’s surprising it took this long for Sigmund Mowinckel’s Psalm Studies to venture their way into the English language. These six studies were published in two volumes in 1921-1924. They were foundational to Mowinckel’s approach to the psalms, which then dominated psalms studies for the next 70 years….
This new one-volume, multi-author commentary on the psalms focuses on the shape and shaping of the Psalter. Brevard Childs first introduced the concept in his Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture in his chapter on the psalms. His initial exploration was fleshed out in his student Gerald Wilson’s dissertation, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter. This “canonical” reading of the Psalter looks for the editorial purpose in the arrangement of the psalms, looking especially at pre-existing collections (e.g., the Psalms of Asaph, Enthronement Psalms, Elohistic Psalter, etc.) as well as editorial indicators (either explicit or implicit). Most in this field agree that the Psalter tells the story of Israel from the reign of David (Books 1-2) to the return from exile (Book 5).