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15 - The Book of Wisdom

from Part III - Wisdom Literature beyond the Hebrew Bible

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2022

By
Joachim Schaper
Edited by
Katherine J. Dell
Edited in association with
Suzanna R. Millar  and
Arthur Jan Keefer
Katherine J. Dell
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Suzanna R. Millar
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
Arthur Jan Keefer
Affiliation:
Eton College
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Summary

The somewhat neglected Wisdom of Solomon, or ‘Book of Wisdom’, contains concepts important not only for understanding wisdom in the rest of the OT but also for understanding how wisdom bridged both testaments. Joachim Schaper gives priority to the book’s theology and its place in Hellenistic Jewish and early Christian thought. He provides an overview of the book’s structure and versions, its intellectual context, its universalistic conceptions of God and humans in history, and how the book exhibits a ‘spiritual exercise’. Most important here are Wisdom’s use of πνευμα (‘spirit’) and its amalgam of Platonic, Stoic and Egyptian elements. It offers a distinct interpretation of the exodus, with which Schaper accounts for ideas of liberation and eschatology. As for the book as spiritual exercise, the discussion turns to matters of genre and literary function, disclosing its purpose to fortify religious beliefs and one’s self-mastery.

Keywords

Wisdom of SolomontheologyOld TestamentNew TestamentspiritPlatonismStoicismEgyptexoduseschatology
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Wisdom Literature , pp. 283 - 302
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

Further Reading

Collins, John J. Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Age. Edinburgh: 1998.Google Scholar
Enns, Peter. Exodus Retold: Ancient Exegesis of the Departure from Egypt in Wis [10:]15–21 and 19:1–9. HSM 57. Atlanta: 1997.Google Scholar
Fichtner, Johannes. Weisheit Salomos. HAT II/6. Tübingen: 1938.Google Scholar
Georgi, Dieter. ‘Das Wesen der Weisheit nach der “Weisheit Salomos”’. Pages 66–81 in Gnosis und Politik. Religionstheorie und Politische Theologie 2. Edited by Taubes, J.. Munich: 1984.Google Scholar
Gese, Hartmut. Alttestamentliche Studien. Tübingen: 1991.Google Scholar
Gilbert, Maurice. La Sagesse de Salomon/The Wisdom of Solomon: Recueil d’études/Selected Essays. AnBib 189. Rome: 2011.Google Scholar
Horbury, William. ‘The Books of Solomon in Ancient Mysticism’. Pages 185–201 in Reading Texts, Seeking Wisdom: Scripture and Theology. Edited by Ford, D. F. and Stanton, G.. London: 2003.Google Scholar
Portier-Young, Anathea E. Apocalypse against Empire: Theologies of Resistance in Early Judaism. Grand Rapids; Cambridge: 2011.Google Scholar
Reese, James M. ‘Plan and Structure in the Book of Wisdom’. CBQ 27 (1965): 391–399.Google Scholar
Reese, James M. Hellenistic Influence on the Book of Wisdom and Its Consequences. AnBib 41. Rome: 1970.Google Scholar
Reiterer, Friedrich Vinzenz. ‘Beobachtungen zum äußeren und inneren Exodus im Buch der Weisheit’. Pages 187–208 in Die Rezeption des Exodusmotivs in deuterokanonischer und frühjüdischer Literatur. DCLS 32. Edited by Gärtner, J. and Schmitz, B.. Berlin; Boston, 2016.Google Scholar
Schäfer, Peter. Mirror of His Beauty: Feminine Images of God from the Bible to the Early Kabbalah. Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World. Princeton; Oxford, 2002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaper, Joachim. ‘“… denn er ist besser als das, was er anbetet” (Sapientia Salomonis 15,17): Bilderpolemik und theologische Anthropologie in der Sapientia Salomonis’. Pages 455–464 in Was ist der Mensch, dass du seiner gedenkst? (Psalm 8,5): Aspekte einer theologischen Anthropologie. Festschrift für Bernd Janowski zum 65. Geburtstag. Edited by Bauks, M. et al. Neukirchen-Vluyn: 2008.Google Scholar
Schaper, Joachim. ‘Νόμος and Νόμοι in the Wisdom of Solomon’. Pages 293–306 in Wisdom and Torah: The Reception of ‘Torah’ in the Wisdom Literature of the Second Temple Period. JSJS 163. Edited by Schipper, B. U. and Teeter, D. A.. Leiden; Boston: 2013.Google Scholar

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