Psalms Course at St Barnabas Nov 12 to Dec 17

For the ‘Healing of the Nations’

A Course on the Psalms

To form a merciful crew using ‘leaves that do not wither’

Chagall Tree of Life 1974, Saint-paul-de-vence

When … Six 1.5 hour sessions on Tuesdays from November 12 to December 17, 2013; 7:30 PM

Where … St Barnabas Church Hall. Begbie and Belmont, Victoria BC. All welcome. Cost of Materials $25; bursaries available.

The course objective is to encourage each participant to regular reading of the Psalms. The first three sessions cover techniques of reading and the observable structures in individual poems and within the collection. Sessions 4 and 5 delve into more personal aspects: discovery for ourselves of how the Psalter informed the faith of Jesus and discipline for ourselves to use the Psalms in prayer for ourselves, for others, and for the world. Each session begins with music and includes lecture, workshop, and discussion time. The final session invites music, poetry, and performance from the participants and explores the music implied in the text as it might have been sung when the Psalms were collected.

1.       The Psalter – What – When – Who for – Why – How to read them

2.       Translation – The Game – Wordplay – Acrostics

3.       The Whole – Inscriptions – God – Major structures

4.       Discovery – Characters – Use in the NT – Use by Jesus

5.       Discipline – Questions – How to Ask – God’s acts – Prayer

6.       Music – Signs in the Text – Music or Punctuation – a New Song

Bob MacDonald is a member of St Barnabas parish. He has sung the Anglican liturgy in many cities in Canada since 1953. In the past 20 years, Bob has facilitated several studies on Romans, Hebrews, the Gospels, Job, Jonah, the Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, and the Psalms. Since 2006, stimulated by the conference on The Epistle to the Hebrews and Christian Theology at St Andrew’s Scotland he has been studying the Psalms in their original tongue and, combining this with his profession in computer technology, has brought to light the poets’ use of repeated words as a means of organization within their poetry. He completed his first full translation from the Hebrew in time for the Oxford Conference on the Psalms in 2010. With grounding from this conference, in 2013, and assistance (particularly from Dr. William Morrow) from a 2011 Community Sabbatical Fellowship at the University of Victoria Centre for the Study of Religion and Society, he finished writing his book, Seeing the Psalter. Bob has presented his techniques as author in residence at the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Spokane, Washington in April 2013, and as invited speaker at the Open University in London in June 2013.