Rivard

The origins of Christian blessing are to be found in the scriptural tradtiions of the ancient Isrealites. THe theology of the Old Testament does not primarily emphasize blessing and God's rolt in it, focusing its attention rather on God as one who saves, a God of deliverance.

-Derek A. Rivard, Blessing the World: Ritual and Lay Piety in Medieval Religion. (Washington, D.C: Catholic University Press, 2009), 25.

Rivard's presentation on blessings represents a contemporary view of blessing which heavily emphasizes the historical understanding of blessings which is heavily dependant upon the scholarship of Westermann, whom Rivard cites here.