Table of Contents

1. Wisdom Literature in Context; a. The terms'wisdom' and 'wisdom literature'.; b. The question of authority.; c. The ancient Near Eastern background.; d. The roots of biblical wisdom literature.; 2. The Wisdom Books; a. Proverbs: its nature as an anthology, and the character of the subsections.; b. Job.; c. Ecclesiastes.; d. The apocryphal wisdom books, and other early Jewish wisdom texts.; e. On defining a corpus of 'wisdom literature'.; 3. The Place of Wisdom Literature.; a. The place of the wisdom texts in the biblical canon.; b. The origins of wisdom literature and the question of 'wisdom circles'.; c. The influence of wisdom literature.; 4. Wisdom and Theology; a. Creation, world-order, and the role of God.; b. Wisdom, ethics, and personal piety.; c. The influence of wisdom ideas and motifs in Jewish and Christian thought.

About the Author

Dr Stuart Weeks MA (Oxon.) MPhil DPhil, Senior Lecturer in Old Testament and Hebrew, Durham University, UK. He is the author of Early Israelite Wisdom (OUP, 1994) and Instructions & Imagery in Proverbs 1-9 (OUP, 2007). He is writing the ICC volume on Ecclesiastes for T&T Clark.

Reviews

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'Weeks here illuminates both the form and the content of 's wisdom literature in relation to the wider world of its origins. The thinking is sharp and nuanced, the presentation is lucid and accessible. This is a distinctive and valuable Introduction'. - Walter Moberly, Professor of Theology and Biblical Interpretation, Durham University, --Sanford Lakoff

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'Weekshere illuminates both the form and the content of 's wisdom literature inrelation to the wider world of its origins. The thinking is sharp andnuanced, the presentation is lucid and accessible. This is a distinctiveand valuable Introduction'. - Walter Moberly, Professor of Theology andBiblical Interpretation, DurhamUniversity, --,