Wisdom Literature

1
Wisdom Literature

• OT Introduction

2
Introducing your textbook

• A review of William Browns
• Character in Crisis
• A Fresh Approach to the Wisdom Literature of the
  Old Testament 

3

• At a time when the chasm between academic
  scholarship and theological reflection seems to
  be widening, both the academic guild and the
  church share in common an uncertainty over how to
  study and appropriate the wisdom literature of
  the Old Testament. On the one hand, mainline
  denominations have for the most part avoided the
  books of Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes in their
  preaching and educational curriculum. Biblical
  scholars, on the other hand, have laboured hard
  to identify the theological significance and
  thematic centre of the wisdom literature, but
  without much consensus.

4

• In Character in Crisis, William P. Brown helps to
  break the impasse by demonstrating that the aim
  of the Bible's wisdom literature is the formation
  of moral character - both for individuals and for
  the community. Brown traces the theme of moral
  identity and conduct throughout the wisdom
  literature of the Old Testament, with a
  concluding reflection on the Epistle of James in
  the New Testament, and explores a range of issues
  that includes literary characterization, moral
  discourse, worldview, and the theology of the
  ancient sages.

5

• He examines the ways in which central characters
  such as God, wisdom, and human beings are
  profiled in the wisdom books and shows how their
  characterizations impart ethical meaning to the
  reading community, both ancient and modern.

6
The chapter headings

• These reveal the development of Browns
  discussion
• 1 Introduction The Ethics and Ethos of Biblical
  Wisdom
• 2.The Formation of Character in Proverbs or,
  Virtue and the Art of Community Maintenance
• 3 The Deformation of Character Job 1-31
• 4 The Reformation of Character Job 32-42
• 5 Character Reconstructed Ecclesiastes
• 6. Conclusion The Journey of Character

7
HOW TO PURCHASE

• ISBN 080284135X available at http//www.abebooks.
  co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?anbrownsortby3sts
  ttncharacterincrisisx62y6
• and http//www.amazon.co.uk/Character-Crisis-Appro
  ach-Literature-Testament/dp/080284135X/refsr_1_1?
  ieUTF8sbooksqid1195728972sr8-1
•  under 10

8
Some of our session titles

• The Intellectual Tradition Wisdom in the
  Ancient Near East
• Wisdom in Israel Psalmists, Prophets and Sages
• Proverbs 1-9 Family Instruction
• Proverbs Major Themes
• Proverbs The Capable Wife
• Ecclesiastes Its place in the canon
• Ecclesiastes Meaning and validity
• The Meaning of Job
• Job as a Theology of Existence
• Extra-canonical Wisdom
• Wisdom in the NT

9
Essay Assessment

• A class presentation AND a research project on a
  tutor-approved subject. Here are some examples
• Wisdom Literature and Creation Theology
• Suffering and the book of Job
• The Subversive Character of Jobs Epilogue
• Biblical Theology and Wisdom Literature
• Wisdom Literature and Divine Guidance
• Feminine Imagery in Biblical Wisdom
• Women and Biblical Wisdom Literature
• Qohelet among the Sages
• Wisdom Literature and the Sanctity of Life
• Genre and Historicity of the Book of Job
• Proverbs and Moral Formation
• The Theology of a Particular Wisdom Book