Worship as Social Creativity: Social Identity and the Form of Psalm 79

Abstract

The form of Ps. 79 is often assessed as disoriented and disorienting. This study examines how the disoriented form of Ps. 79 creatively bolsters communal identity in the face of affliction primarily on the basis of the psalmist’s contention that God remains faithful to the covenant community. When one assesses the form of the psalm through the framework of social identity theory, three social creativity strategies become apparent, which facilitate a positive reassessment of social identity following crisis, namely, (1) the psalmist redefines the valence of the community’s state of affliction as an attribute that should inspire God’s compassionate response, (2) the psalmist engages in downward social comparison by villainizing adversarial nations for their arrogance and iniquity, and (3) the psalmist embraces the community’s commitment to worship. Consequently, the psalm’s medium and message enable recovery from its life setting.