THE PSALMS AS A SOURCE FOR A REFORMED SPIRITUALITY

An Exegetical Analysis of Psalm 25 and its Reception in John Calvin

Resumo

Early in the Protestant Reformation tradition, the book of Psalms played a prominent role in shaping personal and communal devotion. This article aims to carry out a case study based on Psalm 25, investigating how the message of this biblical text has contributed to developing a Reformed spirituality. To achieve this, the first part of the research examines the introductory issues of Psalm 25, such as the title and authorship, the historical context, and the Gattung of the psalm. Next, the author develops an exegetical analysis of the main sections of Psalm 25, considering the text’s literary, syntactic, and semantic elements. Finally, the reception of this biblical passage in John Calvin is studied, analyzing how the reformer understood and applied Psalm 25 and the pastoral contributions from his exegesis of this psalm to a biblical and reformed spirituality.