Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
5-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Graduate School of Theology
Degree Name
Master of Theological Studies
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Mark W. Hamilton
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Paavo Tucker
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Tera Harmon
Abstract
This thesis proposes that reading Ps 37 through the lens of both metaphor and lament can reshape the way the reader understands the reality of evil, fostering hope and agency. While Ps 37 is often classified as a wisdom psalm, this thesis diverges from the interpretation that this psalm is a list of proverbs. Instead, this thesis attempts to show that Ps 37 forms a metaphorical landscape where evil withers, vanishes, and is cut off while goodness thrives and is secured forever. This thesis also places this psalm in dialogue with two poems that engage Ps 37 from a post-Shoah perspective. This thesis argues that lament is essential for understanding the wisdom of Ps 37. Lament implicitly names that the world should be a certain way, and wisdom can do the same thing explicitly. Lament can pair with Ps 37 in a way that moves the reader beyond reading the psalm as too idyllic and into a place of seeing in it an affirmation of what is good. Ultimately, the distinctive space where metaphor, lament, and wisdom merge can be a place where the reader’s understanding of evil is reshaped in a way that can move the reader to join in the pursuit of Ps 37’s vision of goodness.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Johanson, Hannah N., "Reading the Wisdom of Psalm 37 through the Lens of Metaphor and Lament" (2026). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1011.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/1011