Roots of Wisdom

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ISBN: 9780664255596 | 0664255590
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 12/1/1994

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In this book, Claus Westermann argues that Israel's early wisdom literature grew out of an oral tradition reflecting an agrarian setting. Dealing primarily with Proverbs 10-31, Westermann demonstrates how the wisdom literature evolved into a form of poetry that had greater universal appeal as the people of Israel became more urbanized. A distinctive feature ofRoots of Wisdomis Westermann's use of other wisdom sayings, particularly those from ancient Africa, to illustrate the logical progression of wisdom poetry being simply observational in character to becoming more universal in character.

Introduction	p. 1
The Early Proverbial Wisdom of Israel	p. 1
History of Research	p. 3
Proverbial Statements	p. 6
Proverbs of Observation and Experience	p. 6
Observations about People	p. 6
Contrasts	p. 11
The Human Being and Its Social Standing, Work, and Possessions	p. 17
The Human Being in Community and Family	p. 24
The Human Being in Public Life	p. 28
The King	p. 31
The Messenger	p. 36
Summary	p. 36
Proverbs about Human Character	p. 38
Form	p. 38
The Relationship of the Proverbs to Old Testament Laws	p. 40
Types of Character That Endanger the Community	p. 41
Characterization of Behavior	p. 45
Characterization of the Fool by Comparison	p. 46
Characterization of the One Who Promotes the Community	p. 47
Conclusion	p. 48
Proverbs of Antithesis: The Foolish-The Wise	p. 50
Originally Double-Verse Proverbs and Those Editorially Constructed	p. 50
Proverbs Dealing Exclusively with the Foolish and the Wise	p. 52
The Wisdom of the Wise in Transition	p. 56
Comparisons	p. 58
The Content of the Comparisons	p. 59
The Form of the Comparisons	p. 61
The Uniqueness of the Comparisons Exemplified	p. 63
Proverbs of Value Judgment (Comparative Proverbs)	p. 68
Numerical Proverbs: Commendations and Riddles	p. 72
Proverbs of Antithesis: The Righteous-The Wicked	p. 75
Basic Fourfold Thematic Structure	p. 75
Proverbs of Antithesis: The Righteous-The Wicked in Chapters 25--29	p. 79
What Happens between the Righteous and the Wicked	p. 80
The Righteous and the Wicked in the Psalms and Job	p. 81
Comparisons in the Proverbs of Antithesis: The Righteous-The Wicked	p. 82
Summary	p. 83
Hortatory Proverbs (Imperative Sayings)	p. 85
Two Types of Hortatory Proverbs	p. 85
The Introduction in 22:17-21: The Summons to Listen	p. 86
Exhortations concerning Instruction	p. 87
General Exhortations	p. 87
The Structure of 22:17-24:24 and Its Correspondence to the Teaching of Amenemope	p. 88
Hortatory Words in Chapters 22--24: Summary	p. 89
Scattered Proverbs in Chapters 22--24	p. 91
Hortatory Proverbs outside of 22:17-24:24	p. 91
The Farewell Exhortation in Tobit 4:3-19	p. 93
Poetry in the Book of Proverbs	p. 95
Proverbs in the Old Testament Outside of Proverbs 10--31	p. 99
Proverbs in Proverbs 1--9	p. 99
Individual Proverbs in Qohelet	p. 99
Proverbs in the Historical and Prophetic Books	p. 103
Wisdom Sayings in the Psalms	p. 104
Wisdom in the Book of Job	p. 105
The Change From Proverbial Wisdom to Didactic Poetry	p. 108
A Form-Critical Sketch of Wisdom	p. 109
Wisdom Proverbs as Words of Jesus	p. 111
Rudolf Bultmann	p. 111
Max Kuchler	p. 113
W. A. Beardslee	p. 115
Summary	p. 115
A Sketch of a Grouping of Proverbs in the Gospels	p. 116
God and Humanity in Early Proverbial Wisdom	p. 118
The Understanding of Humanity in Proverbial Wisdom	p. 118
The Human Being; the Creature	p. 118
The Human Being as a Creature among Creatures; the Environment	p. 120
The Fruit of the Garden; Provisions	p. 120
Work and Its Yield	p. 121
The Human Being in Community	p. 122
Discourse	p. 122
The Work of God in Early Wisdom	p. 123
Yahweh as the Creator of Humanity	p. 123
God and His Work as the Limitation of Human Possibilities	p. 125
God Chastises and Forgives in Mercy	p. 126
Proverbs of Antithesis: God's Dealing with the Righteous and the Wicked	p. 127
The Fear of Yahweh	p. 128
Summary	p. 129
Wisdom and Theology	p. 131
Conclusion	p. 132
The Significance of the Universal Aspects of the Proverbs	p. 132
Humanity Comes of Age	p. 133
Wisdom, Science, and Philosophy	p. 135
Time and Place	p. 135
Science and Wisdom	p. 136
Wisdom and Philosophy	p. 136
Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 (Luther's Translation): Humanity in Its Temporality	p. 138
Appendix	p. 140
Comparisons with Proverbial Sayings from Other Times and Places	p. 140
African Proverbs	p. 141
Hortatory Words of Tobatak of Sumatra	p. 148
Form and Scope of Sumerian Proverbs	p. 150
The Teaching of Amenemope	p. 155
The Instruction of Onch-Sheshonqy	p. 159
Conclusion	p. 162
Epilogue	p. 164
Abbreviations	p. 165
Notes	p. 167
A Select Chronological Bibliography	p. 175
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

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Roots of Wisdom

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