Bruce Waltke's A Canonical Analysis

The Psalter has historically been a book full of rich, diverse theological truth. Whether it a Psalm of lament, or Psalm praising God, or any other of the vast number of topics the Psalms address, the Psalter is indeed the inspired, revealed word of God that leads believers to deeper fellowship and rejoicing with God himself. Because of this, Bruce Waltke, in his article A Canonical Process Approach to the Psalms, explores the importance of reading and interpreting the Psalms rightly. Ultimately, Waltke’s thesis lies in the notions that the Psalms are best understood by reading them through the lens of a canonical approach.

Summary

Bruce Walkte begins his exploration of rightly reading and understanding the Psalter by evaluating historical views. He first details the Alexandrian method of interpretation, which relies heavily upon an allegorical approach to Scripture. Then, Waltke discusses the Antiochian method of interpretation in which “every passage has only one literal, historical meaning.” The Antiochian approach is then divided into two ideas: noncritical exposition, which limit the

number of messianic psalms and regard those Psalms as direct prophesies of Christ, and the literary and historical critics, who “deny there is any real prediction in the Psalter” and reason that “the messianic element in the psalms…are a reflection of the natural and nationalistic aspirations of the late postexilic Jewish community.”
He continues by outlining the view of Franz Delitzsch, who analyzed the messianic psalms into five categories: typical, typico-prophetic psalms, Jehovic psalms, indirectly messianic psalms, and purely predictive. Of this view, Waltke writes, “While this approach maintains a balance between history and prophecy…it fails to give a consistent and comprehensive method for identifying the messianic element in the psalms.
Waltke transitions to arguing for a canonical approach to reading the Psalms, overviewing Childs’ canonical approach. Then, he presents the similarities between the canonical approach and a method known as sensus plenior because both recognize that “further revelation brought to light a text’s fuller or deeper significance,” yet he also recognizes the key difference and delves into those in the subsequent discourse.
Following his discussion on sensus plenior, he labors to expound upon four convictions regarding the canonical process.

The first principle assumes the “the people of God throughout history are united by a common knowledge and faith.” Second, the canonical approach “accepts the biblical witness that God is the ultimate author of the progressively developing canon.” Third, this approach “rest on the conviction that as the canon developed, lesser and earlier representations were combined to form greater units.” Finally, the canonical process “presupposes that the canon closed with the addition of the last book of the New Testament.” As a result of a thorough discussion on each of these points, Waltke concludes that the Psalter has a royal and messianic significance, carried predictive meaning, find their fulfillment in Christ, and are ultimately the prayers of

Christ.
Critical Evaluation
Waltke’s article was engaging and extremely helpful in understanding how to read and interpret the Psalms. Two of the biggest strengths of the article were the fact that it presented the historical views in a fair, unbiased, honest manner and the points Waltke presented were logical, clear, and convincing.
One of the main reason I enjoyed engaging Waltke’s article so much was because the historical views that were presented were done so with clarity and honesty. Waltke first presented the Alexandrian and Antiochian. He gave the facts about each respective view, allowing the reader to rightly divide and discern for themselves an understanding of each view. He then provides his own assessment of each view, weighing both the pros and cons of each, yet ultimately rejecting each. Because of the fair and balanced manner in which the historical approaches were presented, it freed the reader to think openly and honestly as to the highpoints and deficiencies of each view and laid the framework for Walkte’s ability to argue for the supremacy of the canonical approach.
Second, Walkte presented his argument for the canonical approach in a logical, clear format. He outlines the four key points of his approach, allowing the reader to already begin to think about and formulate ideas and opinions about these claims and begin to weigh them against the historical information provided. Then, he labors to detail each point, showing how the Old Testament readers would have view the text and the significance of their reading and the text itself has on today. He culminates his argument by exhaustively showing the royal nature of the psalms and how they ultimately find their fulfilment in Christ.
The one weakness of Walkte’s piece is that it would appear he gives too little credence to Psalms’ emphasis on the nations. The Psalter is full of predictive text that place Christ’s supremacy on grander display because they point to the gospel’s message being taken to and received by those from every nation, tongue and tribe. This of course, operates in light of the New Testament. However, I think Walkte could have served reader by taking a section to explain how the Psalms view the nations and the impact that has for readers today.
Conclusion
Walkte does a masterful job of arguing for a canonical approach to reading the Psalms. By providing readers with a historical background, the logically, and clearly presenting his own claim, he frees readers to make an informed decision about how to approach the Psalms. Ultimately, by extoling the Christo-centric nature of the Psalms and arguing for their royal nature, Walkte sheds light on the importance and glory of the Psalter within the canon of Scripture.