Die Psalmenüberschrift: τῷ Δαυιδ als Grundlage für Augustinus’ christliche. Interpretation von Psalmen

In his Psalm commentary (Enarrationes in Psalmos) and especially in his interpretation of the Psalm headings, Augustine presents the complete theology of the Christian reading of the Psalms. Of course, Augustine uses the text of the Psalms translated from LXX to Latin. The interpretations of the headings form a very important and comprehensive part of his comments so that it becomes obvious that it is definitely an extensive subject. The Greek heading: τῷ Δαυιδ (ipsi David) is in 57 psalms of the LXX, so it is a very common mention. Augustine considers king David to be above all a model (typus) of Christ. Furthermore, through the grammatical analysis of these headings – namely the objective and subjective meaning of the dative – he forms a complete exegesis and theology of the Psalms for Christians. This view was a basis for the further generations of Christians, especially in the Middle Ages and for the monks, to consider the Psalms as Christian literature.