Biblical Wisdom Literature at the End of the Modern Age

Abstract

This chapter gives an unexpected emphasis to what one signifies by wisdom literature, presuming that and scriptural can be used as synonyms. Biblical wisdom literature axiomatically must be something one can describe in Tanakh or the Jewish Scripture and in the Testament of Christian Scripture. The topic of wisdom must presuppose insights gained by comparing this literature with similar and different literature from ancient Israel and in the ancient Near East more generally. The chapter focuses on the author's comments on a few major hermeneutical issues. Once the Modern Age became dominant, many premodern Jewish and Christian approaches to biblical wisdom literature seemed unrepeatable. Modern historical studies required a new acuity of suspicion and seemed rewarded by the discovery of hidden, more reliable historical foundations beneath the muddy surface of the biblical text. Keywords: biblical wisdom literature; Christian Scripture; Modern Age; Old Testament; Tanakh