Will Kynes
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- October 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198777373
- eISBN:
- 9780191823091
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198777373.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
After summarizing the growing doubts about the Wisdom category, this chapter traces the development of Wisdom scholarship in the twentieth century, focusing on the question of the category’s limits. ...
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After summarizing the growing doubts about the Wisdom category, this chapter traces the development of Wisdom scholarship in the twentieth century, focusing on the question of the category’s limits. Despite efforts to limit its spread, in recent scholarship Wisdom has extended both across the Hebrew Bible and to the “heart of the Israelite experience of God.” As in the similar expansion of Wisdom in the Psalter, Dead Sea Scrolls, and ancient Near East (analogous to the spread of Deuteronomistic texts), attempts to define Wisdom resort eventually to the scholarly consensus concerning which biblical texts make up the category’s core. This factor carries all the weight in the current debates about Wisdom, and yet little research has been put into how this consensus developed or how it affects interpretation.Less
After summarizing the growing doubts about the Wisdom category, this chapter traces the development of Wisdom scholarship in the twentieth century, focusing on the question of the category’s limits. Despite efforts to limit its spread, in recent scholarship Wisdom has extended both across the Hebrew Bible and to the “heart of the Israelite experience of God.” As in the similar expansion of Wisdom in the Psalter, Dead Sea Scrolls, and ancient Near East (analogous to the spread of Deuteronomistic texts), attempts to define Wisdom resort eventually to the scholarly consensus concerning which biblical texts make up the category’s core. This factor carries all the weight in the current debates about Wisdom, and yet little research has been put into how this consensus developed or how it affects interpretation.
Katharine J. Dell
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- October 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198861560
- eISBN:
- 9780191893551
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198861560.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
A canonical link of Solomon with wisdom literature is evidenced in the headings in Proverbs, in the Song of Songs and in Ecclesiastes. In I Kings we find the attribution to Solomon of wisdom, his ...
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A canonical link of Solomon with wisdom literature is evidenced in the headings in Proverbs, in the Song of Songs and in Ecclesiastes. In I Kings we find the attribution to Solomon of wisdom, his prayer for wisdom and its characterization of his reign, and so on. Both the attributions and the Kings account are usually seen as idealizations from later writers. There is an accompanying scepticism about the historical events of Solomon’s reign. The question is raised how and why Solomon was remembered in the canon. Were the reasons socio-economic such that his reign represented a ‘novum’ (Brueggemann), or was there a Solomonic enlightenment? Were there wisdom schools generating wisdom-influenced narratives or training administrators? I argue for a substantial wisdom movement in the pre-exilic period which was a main feature of Solomon’s reign. The reputation he gained for wisdom suggests that he made the art of wisdom his own and his international connections with Egypt and Sheba support the internationalization of the enterprise.Less
A canonical link of Solomon with wisdom literature is evidenced in the headings in Proverbs, in the Song of Songs and in Ecclesiastes. In I Kings we find the attribution to Solomon of wisdom, his prayer for wisdom and its characterization of his reign, and so on. Both the attributions and the Kings account are usually seen as idealizations from later writers. There is an accompanying scepticism about the historical events of Solomon’s reign. The question is raised how and why Solomon was remembered in the canon. Were the reasons socio-economic such that his reign represented a ‘novum’ (Brueggemann), or was there a Solomonic enlightenment? Were there wisdom schools generating wisdom-influenced narratives or training administrators? I argue for a substantial wisdom movement in the pre-exilic period which was a main feature of Solomon’s reign. The reputation he gained for wisdom suggests that he made the art of wisdom his own and his international connections with Egypt and Sheba support the internationalization of the enterprise.
