Christological Psalms (Biblical)

Early Christian hymnody was influenced by the tradition of psalm singing in the temple. The hymns of the New Testament church served both a doxological and an apologetic function. Introduction In a useful series of essays titled "Modern Issues in Biblical Studies," published in Expository Times a generation ago, one notable contribution was "The Evidence in the New Testament for Early Creeds, Catechisms and Liturgy" (Expository Times 71 [1960]: pp. 359363). Professor G. W. H. Lampe's far-ranging essay was prescient in several ways. For instance, it accurately pinpointed the direction in which liturgical and ecumenical studies were moving as, in the following decades, they have sought to build on a firm biblical base in such controversial practices as baptism, the Eucharist, and the role of Mary, the Lord's mother. Lampe's survey also paid tribute to the gains accruing to New Testament study from an application of the principles of form criticism. More recent interest in the traditi…