Memories of Asaph: Mnemohistory and the Psalms of Asaph (Emerging Scholars)

Although the Psalms of Asaph (Pss. 50, 73‒83) contain a concentration of historical referents unparalleled in the Psalter, they have rarely attracted sustained historical interest. Karl N. Jacobson identifies these psalms as containing cultic historiography , historical narratives written for recitation in worship, and explores them through mnemohistory, attending to how the past is remembered and to the rhetorical function of recitation in the cultic setting. Jacobson describes mnemohistory at the intersection of memory and history, explores the singularity of the rhetorical and formals aspects of remembrance in the Asaph material, and discusses "residual mnemohistory," material that is not intentionally called to remembrance. Jacobson shows that Asaph "remembers" the past as a movement from henotheism to a more orthodox form of Yahwism as the core memory that informs a new historical situation for worship participants. By describing the "way Asaph remembers," Jacobson highlights symbolic and individualized elements of the psalms' mnemohistorical work that earlier form-critical approaches failed to recognize. "Although the Psalms of Asaph (Psalms. 50, 73-83) contain a concentration of historical referents unparalleled in the Psalter, they have rarely attracted sustained historical interest. Karl N. Jacobson identifies these Psalms as containing cultic historiography, historical narratives written for recitation in worship, and explores them through mnemohistory, attending to how the past is remembered and to the rhetorical function of recitation in the cultic setting. Asaph "remembers" the past as a movement from henotheism to Yahwism as the core memory that informs a new historical situation for worship participants"--Page 4 of cover Memories of Asaph Memories of Asaph Dedication Contents Introduction and History of Interpretation Theoretical Considerations: History and Communal Memory Mnemohistory and the Asaphite Corpus How Asaph Remembers Psalm 78: The Heart of What Asaph Remembers What Asaph Remembers Excursus: Residual Memories in the Asaphite Corpus Conclusions: Why Asaph Remembers Bibliography Name and Subject Index Ancient Sources Index