I am so thankful that we are gently backing away from a literal understanding of scripture.<\/p>\n
Of course, we still have a long way to go. Our student study guide<\/a> for gospel doctrine states:<\/p>\n \u201cThe book of Psalms is a collection of poems originally sung as praises or petitions to God. Many were written by David. This book is like a hymnal from ancient Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n This description implies that many of the psalms collected in the book of Psalms were written by David, but it can also be read as \u201cThe book of Psalms is a collection of poems and<\/em> David wrote many such psalms but<\/em> not necessarily any of the ones in this collection.\u201d<\/p>\n In our Bible Dictionary entry on Psalms<\/a>, we get some clarification:<\/p>\n \u201cSeventy-three of the psalms are ascribed to David, and so it was natural that the whole collection should be referred to as his, and that this convenient way of speaking should give rise in time to the popular belief that \u2018the sweet psalmist of Israel\u2019 himself wrote all the so-called Psalms of David. Sacred psalmody is ascribed to him in general terms in 2 and 2 Chr., the accompanying instruments also being called instruments of David,\u2019 as in Neh. 23: 35 and Amos 6:5. In some cases in which a psalm is ascribed to David in the Hebrew, it is certain that he could not have written it, and it has been concluded that the Hebrew titles are sometimes inaccurate.\u201d<\/p>\n In the entry on David<\/a>, it further states:<\/p>\n \u201cA large number of the Psalms ascribed to David were certainly not written by him, but the following seem directly connected with the history of his life…There are others that are possibly of Davidic origin.\u201d<\/p>\n It is possible to stay within correlated sources and arrive at a more nuanced view, and one more in line with scholarly consensus, than a simple belief that David wrote most of the Psalms, or even that David wrote the psalms attributed to him.<\/p>\n Sadly, this more nuanced view is often not transmitted to class. The teacher\u2019s manual<\/a> has the same introductory statement as that included in the student manual, and I suspect that in more classes than not, the teacher will take that statement at face value and use the first interpretation offered above.<\/p>\n This example of David and the psalms (it could just as easily have been Moses and the Pentateuch) shows the delicate balance the Church has been maintaining in cultivating a simple, straightforward, literal belief in scripture while recognizing the strong conclusions of scholarly consensus.<\/p>\n