Lamentations 4 in the light of Poetry Therapy

Abstract

Why do we study the Old Testament? Why do we read and analyse Old Testament poems? Does our work make a difference? Does it need to make a difference, and if so, what kind of difference? A recent trend in Psychology is called Poetry Therapy, and it is described as an interface of the Arts and Psychology. The psychologist Adler (1933) wrote ‘Among poetic works of art which have led me to the insights of Individual Psychology the following stand out as pinnacles: fairy tales, the Bible, Shakespeare, and Goethe.’ This paper explores the interface of Old Testament poems and Poetry Therapy. In particular, some recent commentaries on the Book of Lamentations are evaluated from this vantage point, with questions whether they are just more of the same, whether they are merely a proliferation of series of commentaries for publishing houses, or whether they really contribute something new and worthwhile to Old Testament Scholarship and the readers thereof. Lamentations 4 is taken as a focal point. In short, this is a plea for scholarship with a heart.