On the question of psalmody in the ancient synagogue

Abstract

Music historians are virtually unanimous in attributing the source of early Christian psalmody to the synagogue. In this they follow the vast majority of liturgical scholars, Protestant and Catholic alike. There is, after all, considerable plausibility to the view: nascent Christianity was a Jewish sect and its first liturgical gatherings shared with the synagogue its most revolutionary characteristic – the coming together of co-religionists in a meeting room rather than the witnessing of sacrifice in a temple court. Moreover, the liturgical practices of these gatherings resembled those of the synagogue; in particular the so-called ‘liturgy of the Word’ that preceded the Eucharist appears to have been modelled after the scripture-centred order of synagogue worship. And when one observes that the principal vehicle of early Christian chant was the Old Testament Book of Psalms it seems a natural assumption that the singing of those psalms was a practice borrowed from the synagogue. The present author shared this assumption until coming to question it when pursuing a related topic. The study that follows is a fulfilment of the intention stated then to explore the subject more thoroughly. In doing so it is necessary to begin with a general examination of Jewish liturgy in the time of Jesus, both the liturgy of the Temple and that of the synagogue.

Singing The Songs of Ancient Israel:tacame ´emetand Oral Models as Criteria for Layers Of Time In Jewish Psalmody

“…As a daily feature of the synagogue service, psalms are not evidenced before the eighth century CE. 60 Talmudic sources also refer to the usage of Hallel on special occasions in public recitation, presumably in the synagogue; its performance, however, was more in the nature of Scripture reading than in a discrete melodious rendition. 61 In the present time, the psalms are to be found above all in the synagogue service at feasts and on days of mourning.…”

“…60 Talmudic sources also refer to the usage of Hallel on special occasions in public recitation, presumably in the synagogue; its performance, however, was more in the nature of Scripture reading than in a discrete melodious rendition. 61 In the present time, the psalms are to be found above all in the synagogue service at feasts and on days of mourning. Their purpose, however, is not the recitation of a text with subsequent interpretation, resulting from written notes and binding patterns; on the contrary, after the fall of the Temple an older ritual involvement of the psalms, rooted in the ancient strata of house-piety, was transplanted into the new sacred context 59 of the synagogue-an involvement that had never been abandoned in the domestic context.…”

“…47 The early Christians must have borrowed this practice; in the first three centuries CE there is also evidence for the performance of psalms in Christian circles. 48 Further, findings of psalm texts and texts in the style of biblical psalms at Qumran bear witness to the popularity of the psalms outside the Temple of Jerusalem. 49 Supporters of the thesis of an integral, holistic reading of the Psalter further point at stylistic and linguistic features suggesting that the Book of Psalms was compiled as a whole.…”

Music as a Medium of Oral Transmission in Jesus Communities

“…This evidence extends even to the Psalms. "Mishnaic references to the singing of psalms are concerned with either the domestic Passover ritual (Pe -sa -hîm 9.3) or with the services in the Temple prior to its destruction in 70 ce (Bikûrîm iii.4; Pe -sa -hîm v.7; Sukâ v.4; Ta -mîd vii.4; Midôt ii.5)" (J.A.Smith 1984: 6; see also McKinnon 1986). This is consistent with what is described in Matt 15:26 and Mark 26:30.…”