18 GreGOrY T.K. WOnG for reading the psalm as an essentially chiastic ring composition 5. In this, I am indebted to Mary Douglas’ work on ring composition, and I will base much of my discussion on characteristics identified by her 6. I. Characteristics of ring Composition To be sure, Douglas is not the first to speak of ring compositions. Outside the field of biblical studies, scholars have long identified ring compositions in such diverse works as the homeric epics, the hippocratic corpus, and the Old english epic poem Beowulf, among others 7. In fact, in her book, Douglas, whose training is in anthropology rather than biblical studies, also devotes two chapters to an analysis of ring compositions in The Iliad, citing homeric scholars who have preceded her in making similar observations. In the field of biblical studies, scholars before Douglas have also spoken of ring compo- sitions, most notably Muilenburg, whose 1968 sBL Presidential Address is widely considered to be the clarion call that marked the beginning of rhetorical criticism in biblical studies 8. nevertheless, a consensus in favor of a precise definition for “ring composition” has proven to be elusive. As a result, the term is used by different scholars to mean slightly different things. Thus, Muilenburg and some biblical rhetorical critics after him have used the term as a synonym for inclusio, thus putting the focus only on the coordination between the beginning and end of a pericope, without saying anything further about additional features that concern a ring’s internal struc- ture; outside of biblical studies, on the other hand, ring composition is 5 Although several analyses yield results that appear chiastic, their approach is essentially linear. These include A. WeIser, The Psalms. A Commentary (OTL; London 1962) 508; WITTe, “Auf dem Weg”, 19-20; BOADT, “Panels”, 539-540. As far as I know, the only conscious attempts at a chiastic analysis are by AuFFreT, “Étude structurelle”, 241-276, and KArTJe, Wisdom, 100. In addition, although TATe, Psalms 51–100, 234, provides a structural diagram of the psalm that is laid out as a ring, his three-line explanation of the diagram on the preceding page is so confusing and full of typographical errors as to render it incomprehensible. 6 M. DOuGLAs, Thinking in Circles. An essay on ring Composition (new haven, CT 2007). 7 see, for example, C. WhITMAn, Homer and the Heroic Tradition (Cam- bridge, MA 1958); O. WensKus, Ringkomposition, anaphorisch-rekapitulierende Verbindung und anknüpfende Wiederholung im hippokratischen Corpus (Frankfurt 1982); h.W. TOnsFeLDT, “ring Composition in Beowulf”, Neophilologus 61 (1977) 443-452. 8 J. MuILenBurG, “Form Criticism and Beyond”, JBL 88 (1969) 1-18, here 8-9.