Leaven Leaven

Volume 8 Issue 2 Wisdom Article 11

1-1-2000

Biblical Wisdom Literature for Preaching and Teaching Biblical Wisdom Literature for Preaching and Teaching

Alyce M. McKenzie

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Biblical Wisdom Literature forPreaching and Teaching

A Reader's Guide

BY ALYCE M. McKENZIE

The self-help shelf is packedtight with appealing titles at the mallbookstore. There is a lot of talk aboutcharacter, or the lack thereof, frompoliticians, and there is a full menuof New Age seminars from which tochoose in most communities. YetJob's question still haunts preachersand people alike. "Where shallwisdom be found? And where is theplace of understanding?" (Job 28:12NRSV). Our people crave wisdomwithout quite being able to identifyand define it. Our culture is far betterat defining fortune and recognitionthan wisdom.

In such a cultural context,ministers, in our varied roles asteachers, preachers, leaders, evange-lists, and counselors, need all thewisdom we can get! In the biblicalcontext, wisdom (hokmah in Hebrew;sophia in Greek) refers to an orderplaced by God in the natural worldby which we discern truth and liveour lives. Within the biblical canon,wisdom literature generally refers tothe books of Job, Ecclesiastes, andProverbs, of which the latter isconcerned with the practical business

of steering through daily life. Twowisdom writings appear in theApocrypha: the Wisdom of Jesus BenSira (Ecclesiasticus) and the Wisdomof Solomon.

After decades of neglect, biblicalwisdom literature is finally receivingthe attention it deserves. This is goodnews for ministers. We desperatelyneed guidelines from biblical wis-dom for faithful living in times ofgood fortune as well as bad within atheological context of a gracious, yetmysterious, God. But a scholarlyexplosion of articles and books, whileenriching, can also be overwhelming.This reader's guide offers a map ofthe recent terrain. These are thebooks and articles I have found mosthelpful in my years of pastoralexperience, my research into preach-ing wisdom literature, and myministry of teaching seminarystudents, pastors, and lay people.

The wisdom literature stands outfrom the narrative and legal materialof the Pentateuch, as well as fromprophetic and apocalyptic literature.It is silent with regard to the promiseto the patriarchs, the deliverance

from Egypt, the Mosaic covenant, thecentrality of Jerusalem and theDavidic dynasty, and the propheticword. Wisdom literature is devoid ofexplicit references to God's electionof Israel and other saving events. Forthis reason many scholars in the firstseveral decades of the twentiethcentury incorrectly theorized thatwisdom was the result of the Hebrewnation's disillusionment and distrac-tion in exile. As this theory went, thetheological witness was diluted aswisdom literature that focused onday-to-day survival.

In 1923 an Egyptian "Instructionof Amenernope" was discovered andpublished. It bore an uncannyresemblance to Prov 22:17-24:22.This opened scholars' eyes to the factthat biblical wisdom was a Hebrewversion of an intercultural phenom-enon shared with Egypt andMesopotamia. In the years thatfollowed World War II, scholarsuncovered a wide range ofextrabiblical connections withEcclesiastes and Job, as well asProverbs. They began to appreciatethe theological context of biblicalwisdom rather than to deny it.

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Scholars began to see biblicalwisdom literature as a whole, withpatterns of theme and literary forms,rather than as isolated books. Aswisdom's distinctive, pragmaticvoice began to be heard, scholarshipbegan to recognize wisdom elementsin the Psalms, the Prophets, andelsewhere in the Old Testament.

Wisdom scholarship over thepast thirty years has progressed byleaps and bounds, enriched byparallel studies in literary criticism,folklore studies, and archaeology.New insights have been unearthedregarding the social location of thesages and the literary forms ofwisdom, particularly the proverb.Theologians have explored thecentrality of wisdom for counselingand preaching, and the significanceof personified Wisdom for contem-porary christological reflection.

New Testament scholarship hasmoved wisdom to the center just assurely as has that of the Old Testa-ment. For many years the consensuswas that apocalyptic was primary inJesus' message. Scholars incorrectlyassumed that wisdom in the NewTestament was the early church'sresponse to the cold reality of thedelay of the parousia. Recent re-search has revealed that the wisdomelement was integral to Jesus'teachings and that the role of sagewas part of his own self-identifica-tion.

Bibliographies and GeneralTreatments

Three key articles follow thehistory of wisdom scholarship fromthe 1920s to the end of the 1980s.First, R. B. Y.Scott, "The Study ofWisdom Literature," Interpretation 24(1970) traces the progress of wisdomresearch from the 1920s to 1970. Heoffers reasons for the neglect, as wellas a charting of the themes and

achievements, of wisdom researchover that fifty-year period. Hesurfaces insights that continue toinform our present-day understand-ing of wisdom literature. Second,Maurice Gilbert, in his introductionto La Sagesse de l'ancien Testament,BETL 51 (Leuven: Leuven UniversityPress, 1990) presents a brief sum-mary of wisdom publications from1979 to 1989. And last, JamesCrenshaw, "Wisdom Literature:Retrospect and Prospect," in UrgentAdvice and Probing Questions: CollectedWritings on Old Testament Wisdom(Macon, Ga.: Mercer UniversityPress, 1995; pp. 78-89) brings thereader up to date on the status ofwisdom research in the mid-1990s.

Beyond these three articles, thereare a number of works dealing withgeneral treatments. David L. Bartlett,"The Authority of Wisdom," in TheShape of Scriptural Authority (Phila-delphia: Fortress, 1983; pp. 83-111)presents a study of the authority ofwisdom's insights in relation to otherbiblical genres and honors biblicalwisdom as an experiential, yetuniquely authoritative, form ofrevelation. He includes an illuminat-ing treatment of wisdom in the NewTestament. James G. Williams, ThoseWho Ponder Proverbs: AphoristicThinking and Biblical Literature(Sheffield, England: Almond, 1981)characterizes Proverbs as a wisdomof order. Job, Ecclesiastes, and thesynoptic Jesus, he believes, arewisdoms of counterorder.

James L. Crenshaw, Old TestamentWisdom: An Introduction (Atlanta:John Knox, 1981) offers insights intothe basic dynamics of wisdomliterature, the differences in emphasisbetween the confident search forknowledge of Proverbs, the relentlessdemand for Divine Presence of Job,and the plaintive chasing after

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meaning of Ecclesiastes. Crenshawalso deals with the Wisdom of BenSira, the Psalms, and the Wisdom ofSolomon, as well as the influence ofEgyptian and Mesopotamian wis-dom traditions on that of the Israel-ites. A new edition published in 1998updates this helpful classic.

Roland Murphy has written twointroductory overviews of thewisdom literature. The first isWisdom Literature: Job, Proverbs, Ruth,Canticles, Ecclesiastes, and Esther(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981).After an introduction that deals withbasic wisdom genres, the setting ofwisdom literature, and the signifi-cance of extra biblical literature of theancient Near East, Murphy offers atreatment of individual wisdombooks. A second overview byMurphy is The Tree of Life: An Explora-tion of Biblical Wisdom Literature,Anchor Bible Reference Library(Doubleday: New York, 1990). Thisintroduction deals with the identityof the sages and the language andliterary forms of wisdom literature.Murphy includes a brief chapter onLady Wisdom, which traces herappearance beyond Proverbs inapocryphal works. An appendix listsnonbiblical wisdom literature of theancient Near East. Murphy depictswisdom as a gift of God and as ahuman search to which God sum-mons us.

Two essays by James Crenshaw,"Wisdom Literature: Biblical Books"and "The Wisdom Literature,"provide insightful overviews. Theyare included in a compendium ofthirty-seven of his essays publishedbetween 1969 and 1994 entitledUrgent Advice and Probing Questions:Collected Writings on Old TestamentWisdom (Macon, Ga.: Mercer Univer-sity Press, 1995). The former articlefeatures a bibliography of recentstudies in the field of wisdom.

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An article by R. E. Clements,"Wisdom and Old Testament Theol-ogy," in Wisdom in Ancient Israel:Essays in Honour of]. A. Emerton, ed.John Day, Robert P. Gordon, and H.G. Williamson (Cambridge: Cam-bridge University Press, 1998), is anexcellent thematic overview of thelatest thinking on wisdom. It coverssuch topics as wisdom as a compre-hensive worldview, wisdom and theHebrew canon, and wisdom's role intheology.

The Woman's Bible Commentary,ed. Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H.Ringe (Louisville: Westminster /JohnKnox, 1992) contains entries on eachof the wisdom books by contempo-rary biblical scholars.

Wisdom Influence in theBroader Canon

Wisdom's canonical influenceextends beyond the primary textsalready mentioned to several Psalms(1,19,33,39,49,127) and variousother books. The essay collectionWisdom in Ancient Israel, ed. JohnDay, Robert P. Gordon, and H. G.Williamson (Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1998) contains ahelpful array of treatments of therelationship of wisdom to individualprophets (Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, andJeremiah) and the psalms. Especiallynoted is the article "The WisdomPsalms" (pp. 152-60) by R. N.Whybray. Two other related worksare Donn F. Morgan, Wisdom in theOld Testament Traditions (Atlanta:John Knox, 1981) and Gerald T.Sheppard, Wisdom as a HermeneuticalConstruct: A Study in theSapientializing of the Old Testament,BZAW 151 (New York: Walter DeCruyter, 1980).

The Social Setting of theSages

A question that has occupiedscholars over the past few decades is,

What was the social setting of thesages? Most interpreters acknowl-edge an early period in whichwisdom's origin and transmissionoccurred within family units and alater period in which wisdom wastaught by teachers in private schools,with a possible intermediate stage ofroyal court wisdom. I suggest threewritings for those interested in thesocial setting of the sages. The firsttwo writings are essays: R. NormanWhybray, "The Social World of theWisdom Writers," in The World ofAncient Israel, ed. R. E. Clements(Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1989; pp. 227-50); and G. I.Davies, "Were there schools inancient Israel?" (pp. 199-211), inWisdom in Ancient Israel, mentionedabove. The third writing, ClausWestermann, Roots of Wisdom: TheOldest Proverbs of Israel and OtherPeoples (Louisville: Westminster /John Knox, 1990), argues for theprominence of the family in earlywisdom instruction.

Wisdom GenresFor preaching and teaching, it is

crucial to understand the variousliterary forms within the wisdomgenre. For this we can turn to JamesCrenshaw's chapter, "Wisdom," inOld Testament Form Criticism, ed. JohnH. Hayes (San Antonio: TrinityUniversity Press, 1974; pp. 225---64).Among the forms Crenshaw definesare the proverb, the riddle, the fable,the allegory, the hymn, the prayer,the dialogue, the confession, the list,and the didactic poem.

The book by James L. Bailey andLyle D. Vander Broek, Literary Formsin the New Testament (Louisville:Westminster/John Knox, 1992),examines the structure and rhetoricalintentions of a number of NewTestament literary forms, includingaphorisms and parables.

Robert Tannehill, The Sword of HisMouth: Forceful and ImaginativeLanguage in Synoptic Sayings, SemeiaSupplements 1(Missoula, Mon.:Fortress and Scholars Press, 1975)examines the rhetorical force and useof hyperbole in Jesus' aphorisms.

Several other articles explore theproverb and the parable in theteachings of Jesus and offer invalu-able insights for preaching on textsfrom the Synoptic Gospels. Includedare the following:

William A. Beardslee, "Uses ofthe Proverb in the Synoptic Gospels,"Interpretation 24 (1970): 61-73.

Charles Carlston, "Proverbs,Maxims and the Historical Jesus,"Journal of Biblical Literature 99 (1980):87-105.

John Dominic Crossan, InFragments: The Aphorisms of Jesus (SanFrancisco: Harper & Row, 1983).

Bernard B. Scott, Hear Then theParable: A Commentary on the Parablesof Jesus (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989).

John S. Kloppenborg, The Forma-tion of Q: Trajectories in AncientWisdom Collections (Philadelphia:Fortress, 1987).

James G. Williams, "Parable andChreia: From Q to Narrative Gospel,"Semeia 43 (1988): 85-114.

The Role of the SageThe office of sage offers a helpful

model for the pastoral ministries ofpreaching and teaching. Excellenthistorical background is available inThe Sage in Israel and the Ancient NearEast, ed. John G. Gammie and Leo G.Perdue (Eisenbrauns: Winona Lake,1990). This is a collection of essaysthat deals with the sage in Israel,surrounding cultures, rabbinic

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Judaism, and Jesus' ministry. It alsodeals with the phenomenon offemale sages in various settings. Inthis vein I recommend especiallyClaudia Camp's helpful articleentitled "The Female Sage in AncientIsrael and in the Biblical WisdomLiterature."

Joseph Blekinsopp, Sage, Priest,Prophet: Religious and IntellectualLeadership in Ancient Israel (Louis-ville: Westminster /John Knox, 1995)contains a lengthy treatment of therole and function of the sage (pp. 9-65).

Two explorations of the piety ofthe sages of Proverbs, "The Contem-plative Life" (pp. 250-64) and "TheRestraint of Reason, The Humility ofPrayer" (pp. 206--21), are found in thepreviously mentioned essay collec-tion, Urgent Advice and ProbingQuestions.

Jesus as SageBen Witherington III, Jesus the

Sage: The Pilgrimage of Wisdom(Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994) shedslight on Jesus' self-understanding inrelation to Wisdom. It also deals withchristological reflection in Paul, thePastoral Epistles, and Hebrews.

Bernard Brandon Scott, "Jesus asSage: An Innovating Voice in Com-mon Wisdom," in The Sage in Israeland the Ancient Near East, ed. John G.Gammie and Leo G. Perdue (WinonaLake: Eisenbrauns, 1990; pp. 399-415) illustrates how Jesus both wasindebted to and diverged from OldTestament wisdom.

Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza,Jesus, Miriam's Child, Sophia's Prophet:Critical Issues in Feminist Christology(New York: Continuum, 1995)examines Jesus' embodiment of thetradition of personified Wisdom inProverbs and his New Testamentidentification as a prophet of Sophiafor contemporary reflection on theidentity of Christ.

Alan P. Winton, The Proverbs ofJesus: Issues of History and Rhetoric,JSNTSup 35 (London: SheffieldAcademic Press, 1990) analyzes theproverbial form and, in chapter 6,deals with its use in the context ofJesus' kingdom teachings. Otherrelevant books and articles includeBernard Brandon Scott, Jesus, SymbolMaker for the Kingdom (Philadelphia:Fortress, 1981); William A. Beardslee,"Uses of the Proverb in the SynopticGospels," Interpretation 24 (1970): 51-76; and William A. Beardslee, "TheWisdom Tradition and the SynopticGospels," Journal of the AmericanAcademy of Religion 35 (1967): 231-40.

Personified WisdomClaudia V. Camp, Wisdom and the

Feminine in the Book of Proverbs(Decatur, Ga.: Almond, 1985) is agroundbreaking study that offersinsights into how wisdom becamepersonified as female in a patriarchalculture. Camp locates the collation ofProverbs in the postexilic period,when traditional male institutions ofauthority were in disrepair. Thehome became the locus of wisdomteaching and community stability.Images of women as subtle andcourageous, but often indirect,communicators and as nurturers ofhearth and home informed notions ofwisdom. Camp points out howpersonified Wisdom is both a literarydevice and a religious symbol thatdraws these female roles to herself. AFeminist Companion to WisdomLiterature, ed. Athalya Brenner(Sheffield, England: Sheffield Aca-demic Press, 1995) is a collection ofessays by women. The work shedslight on the social roles of women inancient Israel and their influence onthe depiction of Wisdom's personifi-cation and precepts in both Proverbsand Job. Carole R. Fontaine's "TheSocial Roles of Women in the World

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of Wisdom" provides a helpfulintroduction and overview to thevolume. Several articles by contem-porary women scholars deal with theimages of women in wisdom litera-ture, the role of women as counselorsin ancient Israel, and the identity ofthe" woman of worth" of the con-cluding poem of the book of Prov-erbs.

[ann Aldredge-Clanton, In Searchof Christ-Sophia: An InclusiveChristology for Liberating Christians(Mystic, Conn.: Twenty ThirdPublications, 1997) focuses on theresurrected Christ-Sophia rather thanon the maleness of the historicalJesus. She understands the image ofWisdom as a bridge between Oldand New Testaments, between theearthly Jesus and the resurrectedChrist. Clanton's work affirms aWisdom christo logy intended toreclaim the inclusivity of God andChrist for men as well as women.

Preaching WisdomThe following six articles deal

with preaching wisdom themes incontemporary pulpits:

Duane Garrett, "PreachingWisdom," in Reclaiming the PropheticMantle: Preaching the Old TestamentFaithfully (Nashville: Broadman,1992),89-104.

Donald E. Gowan, "Preachingfrom Wisdom Literature," in Reclaim-ing the Old Testament for the ChristianPulpit (Edinburgh, Scotland: T. & T.Clark, 1980), 100--118. Gowan'sinadequate understanding of prov-erbs as self-evident punch lines marshis helpful insights on generalwisdom themes.

Elizabeth Achtemeier, "Preach-ing from the Wisdom Literature," inPreaching from the Old Testament

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(Louisville: Westminster /Iohn Knox,1989), 165-87.

Ronald E. Clements, "Preachingfrom the Wisdom Literature," inBiblical Preaching: An Expositor'sTreasuri], ed. James W. Cox (Philadel-phia: Westminster, 1983).

Kathleen M. O'Connor, "TheCity Square and the Home:Wisdom's World," Journal for Preach-ers 10, no. 4 (1996): 10-15.

Kent Sparks, "In the Footsteps ofthe Sages: Interpreting Wisdom forPreaching," Faith and Mission 13 (fall1995): 70-84.

A more specialized focus onpreaching specific wisdom forms isoffered in three works. First, MikeGraves, Sermon as Symphony: Preach-ing the Literary Forms of the NewTestament (Valley Forge: Judson,1997) develops Bailey and VanderBroeks categories (Literary Forms inthe New Testament, mentioned above)and makes them accessible forpreachers. His chapters on aphorismsand parables are each followed by asample sermon and a bibliography ofadditional sermons. Second, ThomasG. Long, Preaching and the LiteraryForms of the Bible (Philadelphia:Fortress, 1989) includes a seminalchapter entitled "Preaching onProverbs" (pp. 53-65). Long demon-strates a sermonic method by whichthe structure, style, and situation of

the text shape the sermon. His essayon preaching proverbs paved theway for future homiletical reflectionon this neglected genre. Finally, AlyceM. McKenzie, Preaching Proverbs:Wisdom for the Pulpit (Louisville:Westminster/John Knox, 1996) dealswith the genre of proverbs through-out the entire Bible as well as con-temporary cultures. McKenziedefines the structure and function ofbiblical and contemporary proverbsand distinguishes between proverbsof order and of subversion. There areseparate chapters on the book ofProverbs, Ecclesiastes, and thesayings of the synoptic Jesus. Thebook concludes with six samplesermon forms, along with samplesermons. A chapter on contemporaryproverbs provides the preacher withan incisive look at contemporaryculture.

Wisdom beyond the PulpitFinally, I mention four works

pertaining to wisdom beyond thepulpit:

Ronald E. Clements, Wisdom for aChanging World: Wisdom in OldTestament Theology (Berkeley: BIBALPress, 1991). Clements develops aprovocative study of the wisdomtradition with special emphasis on itsrelationship to contemporary society.

"Searching for Biblical Wisdom:Recent Studies and Their Pertinencefor Contemporary Ministry," Sewanee

Tllt'oloSiCilI Rcuiet» 37 (Easter 1994):\S\-62.

Robin Maas, "Wisdom Calls toHer Children: A Practicum on theFeminine Dimension in ChristianSpirituality," Church and Society 84(May-June 1994): 94-103.

Donald Capps, Reframing: A NewMethod in Pastoral Care (Minneapolis:Fortress, 1990). Capps uses thebiblical notion of wisdom/ folly as amethod for pastoral counselors tohelp people open their lives to theunexpected.

It is obvious that there is noshortage of materials that offer thepastor and preacher wisdom aboutwisdom. The answer to Job's ques-tion, "Where is wisdom to befound?" is, "Everywhere we look!"In theological terms, wisdom is a giftand a search, a divine initiative and alifelong, moment-by-moment humanresponse. One of the most excitingthings about ministry is that an ever-deepening grasp of wisdom awaitsus-e-Cod's, our own, and that ofothers. It is my hope that this de-scription of resources for the searchwill assist all of us in being andbecoming the sages sorely needed byour world and our church.

ALYCE M. McKENZIE is assistantprofessor of preaching at PerkinsSchool of Theology, Southern Meth-odist University, in Dallas, Texas.

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