Theology of Wisdom

This chapter explores the theology of wisdom in the Old Testament with a focus on the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job as well as a consideration of deuterocanonical (Sirach and Wisdom of Solomon) and New Testament wisdom. This study concludes that the theological message of wisdom centers on the concept of the fear of the Lord. Proverbs also demonstrates the pervasive theological dimension of wisdom through the picture of Woman Wisdom, who ultimately represents not only Yahweh’s wisdom, but Yahweh himself. To be wise entails a relationship with Yahweh. The New Testament associates Jesus with Woman Wisdom, thus implying wisdom can be achieved only through relationship with Jesus. This study of the theological dimension of wisdom challenges the contention of some scholars that wisdom is more practical and humanistic and distant from other theological traditions in the Old Testament.

Toward an African Feminist Ethics and the Book of Proverbs

This essay posits that a feminist African ethics must be based on different principles than Western Socratic-Aristotelian ethics. A feminist African ethics centers on communitarian notions of care and collective engagement. The female figures in Proverbs 1–9 illustrate the complex ethical situation in which feminist African ethicists find themselves. Woman Wisdom represents the traditional African ethics of care and empathy, whereas the Strange Woman represents the unethical system dominant in post-independent and postcolonial Africa. A feminist African ethics also has to recognize that it always operates in a confluence or amalgam of ethical paradigms. Most importantly, a feminist African ethics needs to deal with the significance of the social location and lived experiences of African women. The discussion of the relationship between Woman Wisdom and the Strange Woman teaches that the African and the Western ethical paradigms promote two antithetical ideologies or ways of life. Both of them exist in contemporary Africa, and the resulting tension challenges African feminist Bible scholars to struggle with the ethical incongruities prevalent within their geopolitical context.

Intertextual Femininity in Proverbs and the Dao De Jing

This essay offers an intertextual reading of Proverbs and the Dao De Jing based on the use of feminine imagery. Both the Dao De Jing and Proverbs employ feminine imagery to convey each text’s notion of the proper way. In both traditions, feminist scholars have long critiqued the ideological positions attributed to female figures. By drawing upon the diverse thematic strands in each text, the particularities of the notion of “femininity” can be explicated. Interestingly, this engagement allows the Daoist construction of the feminine to destabilize the patriarchal underpinnings of woman wisdom in Proverbs. In turn, the liberating aspects of the strong woman can be compared to, and used to critique, the conception of femininity in the Dao De Jing.

The Third Solomonic Book

The issue of the relationship of the Song of Songs to wisdom is discussed in this chapter under three headings: that of the Solomonic attribution and references to the King; that of editorial links with the genre of wisdom, and finally that of relationship to wisdom motifs and female configurations in Proverbs. It is argued that the Solomonic inspiration for the work extends beyond the attribution alone to include references to him in the text and that references to ‘the King’ enhance this sense. That the editorial links with wisdom are confirmed with not only 8:6b–7 being seen as of the abstract nature of proverbial wisdom, but also the refrains in 2:7; 3:5, and 8:4. This wisdom connection may, however, form a pre-literary layer in connection with the Solomonic context rather than simply a redactional one. Finally, it is argued that there are close links in themes and imagery with the figures of woman Wisdom and the loose woman that suggest that the Song of Songs may have been an inspiration for the portrayal of such figures, although the more moralistic framework of the wisdom material is acknowledged. Thus whilst the Song is not classified as wisdom literature, it genre being primarily that of ‘love songs’, its links with wisdom circles are acknowledged, both at the stage of oral inspiration and at that of writing down and its ongoing relevance as an inspiration to the wisdom writers is evidenced in the portrayal of female figures in Proverbs 1–9.

Christ as the Woman Seeking Her Lost Coin: Luke 15:8-10 and Divine Sophia in the Latin West

Fathers, saints, and Doctors of the Church interpreted the woman of Luke 15:8-10 as a representation of Christ—and identified her with Woman Wisdom ( ḥokmāh/ sophia), whom they saw as divine. Medieval theologians related Luke 15:8-10 to other Scripture passages representing God in feminine form, and reflected on the appropriateness of portraying God as a woman. After the close of the Middle Ages a variety of publications continued to reinscribe this interpretation of the woman seeking her lost coin. Altogether, this illustrates one way in which belief in the divinity of Woman Wisdom survived throughout much of Christian history.

Wisdom and Folly in the city: exploring urban contexts in the book of Proverbs

Proverbs 1–9 is often said to have a city background that contrasts with the agricultural imagery dominant in the maxims sections. However, this is an oversimplification. There are also maxims in the main Proverbs collection that concern the city, and the city background revealed within Proverbs 1–9 links up with the portrayal of the ‘capable wife’ in Proverbs 31:10–33. Having established the presence of city references throughout Proverbs, this article explores how the portrayal of Woman Wisdom and Woman Folly in particular gives fascinating insight into the heart of happenings in the Israelite city.

Woman Wisdom and the ethical vision of the book of Proverbs: An African reflection

An observable gap in scholarship is a comprehensive ethical reflection on the portrayal of wisdom as feminine in the book of Proverbs and its implication for wisdom ethics. Besides this lacuna is the observation that the few existing studies on the ethics of the book of Proverbs take their point of departure essentially from a Western conception of ethics. This article as approached the book of Proverbs from an ethical perspective and has argued that the African view of ethics has a rich quality embedded in communitarian values that can be explored heuristically to interpret the ethical vision of the book of Proverbs. Such an approach, it is suggested, has pedagogical relevance to the teaching of biblical ethics especially in Africa.