Theology

Although wisdom is usually seen as separate from Covenant Theology, a full-orbed, canonical account of wisdom will lead us to consider wisdom and covenant as linked by their common root in creation. Biblical Israel conceived of wisdom as a divine or human capacity rooted and revealed in creation, and implicitly inseparable from covenant as its theological presupposition. This chapter discusses the nature of wisdom as a concept, the presuppositions and conditions associated with it, and what it does. It situates wisdom and covenant in the created order as all three realities converge in the fear of the Lord.

Solomon and the Solomonic Collection

Solomon as the key figurehead of wisdom is explored in this article in relation to his character as the ideal wise man as portraits of him emerge from the narrative texts that introduce him in 1 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles. Crucial periods of his life related to wisdom as depicted there are focused upon—his birth and accession, his acquisition of wisdom, and the visit of the Queen of Sheba. Questions of Solomon’s historicity both as a person and in relation to the literary accounts that reveal him are examined in relation to the scholarship, as are matters regarding the nature of Solomon’s wisdom, which has also been under discussion. The Solomonic collection is then examined from brief references within the canon to whole books—such as Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs—that are more influenced by his persona. The article concludes with a brief glimpse of Solomon’s afterlife, in particular in Handel’s opera Solomon (1749).

The Pervasiveness of Wisdom in (Con)texts

Wisdom as a distinctive category has been challenged. This piece further challenges and opens up the geographical, ideological, and contextual contexts of sapiential texts found in various cultures with written scribal traditions. The Hebrew Bible’s Wisdom texts are primarily studied and situated in the ancient Near East and Egypt. Here, these texts are directedly placed in dialogue with authors and texts of the ancient Far East. For example: Proverbs and the Analects, Job and Buddhism, and Ecclesiastes and Chinese Philosophy (Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu). As Wisdom authors and texts hardly reference divinely sanctioned prophets or revelatory laws, the content and message with emphasis on humanity, propriety, consciousness, and jen (virtue, steadfastness, justice, affection, and righteousness) offer a fresh new breath of distinctiveness, which was pervasive in the Greco-Persian context.

Wisdom in Christian Theology

This article argues that the concept of wisdom in modern Christian theology, to be most effective, should draw on two dimensions of wisdom that are present within Hebrew Wisdom Literature. These are wisdom as careful observation of the world, and wisdom as participation in the presence of God in the world, the latter expressed in the personification of “Lady Wisdom.” These two aspects are reflected in the duality between practical wisdom (Aristotelian phronēsis) and sophia in Christian tradition, though for Christian theology participative wisdom will be engagement in the relational love of a triune God. This two-fold approach to wisdom illuminates doctrines of creation, the Trinity, and Christology, and produces a theology which aims to articulate the relation of God to the world in creation and redemption, while taking seriously the awareness in late modern culture of the dangers of a human self that attempts to dominate the world around it.

Law and Wisdom Literature

Biblical studies generally sees Law and Wisdom as separate, even opposed, categories. This dichotomous approach is unsatisfactory. It distorts our understanding of the traditions of both Law and Wisdom, as well as the more unified biblical tradition as a whole. Although the discipline generally has not so far been able to transcend this opposition, scholars have increasingly explored possible relationships between Law and Wisdom. Semantic, linguistic, cognitive, and semiotic studies collectively point towards the need for a paradigm shift away from a dichotomous approach to one that sees Law and Wisdom as complementary. This is crucial to re-evaluating the concept of wisdom—and law.

Wisdom and Wisdom Literature

This chapter introduces the volume by arguing that the study of biblical wisdom is in the midst of a potential paradigm shift, as interpreters are beginning to reconsider the relationship between the concept of wisdom in the Bible and the category Wisdom Literature. This offers an opportunity to explore how the two have been related in the past, in the history of Jewish and Christian interpretation, how they are connected in the present, as three competing primary approaches to Wisdom study have developed, and how they could be treated in the future, as new possibilities for understanding wisdom with insight from before and beyond the development of the Wisdom Literature category are emerging.

The Chronological Development of Wisdom Literature

In this article, the historical localization of Hebrew Bible Wisdom Literature is discussed firstly with regard to the literary development of the books of Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes. By examining these books one can make several observations that help to reconstruct the history not only of the individual books, but also the history of Wisdom Literature as a whole. Wisdom Literature is understood in this context as the result of a process of discussion, interaction, and interdependence, and thus the documentation of a broader discourse surrounding Wisdom topics. This discourse is reflected in the whole of Wisdom Literature of the Hebrew Bible. From this point of view, the differentiation between the Wisdom books and some other Wisdom texts, such as the Wisdom Psalms or the book of Ben Sira, is finally placed within an era overview, and thus a short history of Wisdom Literature is presented.

Wisdom in the Qur’an and the Islamic Tradition

Wisdom is a crucial qur’anic concept that has been discussed in richly variegated ways in the Islamic tradition, including in qur’anic exegesis, Islamic theology and philosophy, Islamic law, and Islamic spirituality. This article offers a general overview of the role of wisdom in the Qur’an and an interpretive presentation of its meaning, with a specific focus on a number of significant Muslim scholars and sages in classical and contemporary eras, such as al-Ghazali, Rumi, Ibn al-’Arabi, and Said Nursi. The article is organized around three questions to the qur’anic text and Muslim sources: How is wisdom a special gift from God? Why is it so precious? Why does it require a certain existential choice? The Qur’an considers wisdom as a gift from God that is linked closely with revelation. Ultimately, in the qur’anic tradition, wisdom is about understanding how the reality points to transcendent beauty, life after death, and living accordingly, in gratitude, with balance and justice.

Wisdom in Dialogue with Greek Civilization

This article surveys attempts to explore the relation of the so-called Wisdom Literature of the Hebrew Bible—the books of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes—to figures and texts within Greek civilization. “Classical” and “biblical” texts have furnished a two-sided wisdom discourse within Western culture throughout the late antique, medieval, and early modern periods. Nevertheless, focused, comparative examinations of Wisdom texts in the two streams of tradition have not featured prominently in modern critical treatments of Wisdom in the Hebrew Bible. This article provides a brief review of essential backgrounds: the old dialectic between “Athens” and “Jerusalem” as well as modern attempts to distinguish “Hebrew thought” from “Greek thought.” The final section of the article turns to more recent examinations of specific parallels between the book of Ecclesiastes and Greek skepticism, the book of Job and Greek tragedy, and the book of Proverbs and virtue ethics.

The Social Setting of Wisdom Literature

The question of the social setting of the biblical Wisdom Literature is an interesting one in that this type of literature seeks to exclude its social background as much as possible. Wisdom Literature, by its very nature, ostensibly portrays itself as universal in its appeal. The social setting of the biblical Wisdom Literature is introduced in this chapter, in order to provide insight into how a range of social facets impinge on their interpretation. Attention focuses on the Israelite scribal context for this literature and the location of its authors/original audience in the retainer social class. Other social variables treated are power, age, gender, and status of both the intended audience and its authors.