Books on the topic 'Wisdom genre'

Despite the undeniable importance of the concept of wisdom to Proverbs, reading the book as Wisdom Literature creates similar problems as it does for Job and Ecclesiastes. The book’s interpretation profits from better appreciating its complexity, perhaps more so because the obviousness of its Wisdom classification has previously discouraged attempts to do so. The groupings before Wisdom, such as Sifrei Emet and Poetry, provide forgotten nuances. The book’s widespread inclusion in a Solomonic collection invites comparison with the account of that king’s reign in 1 Kings 1–11. The variegated presentation of wisdom in that account associates the concept with political, legal, cultic, and prophetic texts. This intersection of potential genre groupings in 1 Kings 1–11 is also evident in Proverbs. Genres, such as Wisdom, are not “real” and should not restrict the insights from other textual comparisons.

In the rise of Wisdom Literature in less than a century from obscurity to ubiquity, a number of crucial questions have been left unanswered. Most fundamentally, when, how, and why did the category, comprised essentially of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job, develop? The definitional issues long plaguing Wisdom scholarship can be traced to that unquestioned “universal consensus.” This book unearths its origin, describes its distorting effect, and proposes an alternative approach. Absent from early Jewish and Christian interpretation, the Wisdom category first emerged in modern scholarship, with the traits associated with it, such as universalism, humanism, rationalism, and secularism, suspiciously mirroring the ideals of its nineteenth-century German birthplace. Since it was originally assembled to reflect modern values, biblical scholars have struggled to define the corpus on any other basis or integrate it into the theology of the Hebrew Bible. The problem, however, is not only why the texts were perceived in this way, but that they are perceived in only one way at all. This book builds on recent literary and cognitive theory to create an alternative approach to genre that integrates hermeneutical insight from various genre groupings. This theory is then applied to Job, Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs, mapping out the complex intertextual network contributing to each book’s meaning. Seen from multiple perspectives, these texts emerge in three dimensions, as facets previously obscured by the category are illuminated once again. The death of the Wisdom Literature category offers new life to both the so-called Wisdom texts and the concept of wisdom.

The numerous, often contrasting interpretations Ecclesiastes has inspired across history provide a clear example of the self-reflective character of genres. Rather than dismissing these readings completely, Wisdom included, because of their subjectivity, it is more profitable to understand each as a partial and selective perspective responding to some potential of the text. Whether inspired by the traditional collections before Wisdom Literature, intertextual links to other canonical genres, parallels to texts from across the ancient Near East, or comparisons based on the book’s literary features, such as form, tone, or content, each genre proposal reveals something about the nature of the text while falling short of comprehending the whole. Illuminating all the contours of the text’s rugged terrain while dispelling the “misleading shadows” of self-interested exegesis will require engaging with more rather than less of the subjective perspectives on its meaning.

This chapter aims to discover the precise “scholarly world” in which the Wisdom category arose, understand what aspects of that environment inspired its creation, and evaluate the lasting effects that origin has had on its interpretation. Johann Bruch’s Weisheits-Lehre der Hebräer (1851) is the first work to draw together a developing concept of a Wisdom genre and present it systematically and comprehensively. In the nineteenth century, German Christians like Bruch were struggling to reconcile the universalistic, humanistic, and philosophical aspects of their religion with its particularistic connection with a history that was becoming increasingly problematic under the intense examination of eighteenth-century rationalism and nineteenth-century historical criticism. This was fertile soil for Wisdom Literature’s development as the “universalistic, humanistic, philosophical” collection within the Old Testament. The level of abstraction necessary to justify the diverse category leaves ample room for scholars to import their own presuppositions into the interpretation of these texts.

The Wisdom Literature category has never been able to contain Job’s vast intertextual potential, and the category’s exclusive application distorts the book’s meaning through canonical separation, theological abstraction, and hermeneutical limitation. Job is embedded in a dense intertextual network. Appreciating the book’s distinctiveness requires reading it in relationship to as many literary groupings as its content and form justify. These include pre-modern genre designations, such as poetry, prophecy, and drama, as well as those produced by ancient Near Eastern parallels, such as the exemplary-sufferer texts. In recent scholarship, some of these have been resurrected, along with proposed adapted genres, such as dramatized lament or metaprophecy, and meta-genres, such as parody and polyphony. As selective perspectives, each of these proposed textual groupings underscores some salient feature of the book and thus combining them reveals the complexity and nuance of its meaning.

Study of the wisdom literature in the Hebrew Bible and the contemporary cultures in the ancient Near Eastern world is evolving rapidly as old definitions and assumptions are questioned. Scholars are now interrogating the role of oral culture, the rhetoric of teaching and didacticism, the understanding of genre, and the relationship of these factors to the corpus of writings. The scribal culture in which wisdom literature arose is also under investigation, alongside questions of social context and character formation. This Companion serves as an essential guide to wisdom texts, a body of biblical literature with ancient origins that continue to have universal and timeless appeal. Reflecting new interpretive approaches, including virtue ethics and intertextuality, the volume includes essays by an international team of leading scholars. They engage with the texts, provide authoritative summaries of the state of the field, and open up to readers the exciting world of biblical wisdom.

The introduction sets this study in the context of the three recent critical approaches it combines: (1) “metacritical” studies of biblical criticism that identify and critically analyze the “historically effected consciousness” that inspired a particular approach to biblical interpretation; (2) “biographies” of texts that examine their origins and effects; and (3) “end- of” books, which, following the lead of Fukuyama’s “The End of History?” (1989), argue, among other things, that old concepts may fade away as perceptions change. The role of genre methodology in perpetuating the Wisdom Literature category and now in challenging it is introduced. Finally, terminological distinctions are made between the Wisdom Literature category and Wisdom as a genre, the Wisdom Schools associated with it, and wisdom as a concept.

Some of the difficulties of handling the Bible are discussed. These involve correctly discerning the genre of each part, the questions to which any given text is addressed, the limited knowledge of the writers, for example about natural phenomena, and moral objections. Such issues are handled by bringing to bear what wisdom we can, as a community of readers. It is merely correct to admit that the literary genre is varied and includes polemic and storytelling alongside history, sometimes woven together. When remarkable events are recounted, it is proper to bring science and archeology to bear, and aim to be fair to the text. The history of violence should be handled even more carefully, so as not to promote attitudes that lead to violence in the present. This can be done through careful reflection which foregrounds issues of fairness, and how injustice is properly opposed.

This chapter opens by reflecting on the prayer with which Augustine opens his incomplete Soliloquia. In this work, Augustine introduces the reflexivity of prayer: prayer is a desire to know God and himself, to know God through himself and to know himself through God. In De magistro this reflexivity is expanded to account for a spoken yet essentially silent form of prayer. In these two works that bookend his experiment with the genre of philosophical dialogue, prayer emerges as an activity that is bound up with Augustine’s lifelong pursuit of wisdom, which, in turn, is closely related to the practice of prayer in non-Christian schools of philosophy of this period (388–91 CE).

This chapter argues for the History of England’s importance in Hume’s overall achievement. The chapter describes the History’s genesis, reception, methods, and aims. In the role of historian, Hume shared with the ancients the assumption that history is an elevated genre functioning as the “Mistress of Wisdom.” Yet this long work is more notable for historiographical innovation. Like William Robertson and Edward Gibbon, Hume wrote conjectural or philosophical history. Like Machiavelli, Voltaire, and Montesquieu, Hume wrote civil or cultural history, including detailed information on political events, law, commerce, and manners. In a larger sense, the History demonstrates a great philosopher leaving his study (or “closet”) to deal with that practical, sometimes intractable world outside the study. A priori reasoning is tested against that a posteriori reality provided by historical evidence. Thus, in writing the History, Hume became an empiricist in an almost literal sense.

The book of Daniel forms a bridge between Israel’s classical prophetic literature and the genre apocalypse. Daniel has often been classified among the prophets, but also stands apart. An examination of revealed knowledge and textual authority in Daniel clarifies the relationship among Daniel, earlier prophets, and Mesopotamian divinatory wisdom. Daniel’s apocalyptic imagination combines prophetic language and imagery with new visionary experience, offering readers powerful new language, symbols, and models for embodied practice. Cross-disciplinary studies of imagination suggest ways that Daniel’s prophetic and apocalyptic imagination allowed ancient readers to interact with the legacies of the Mesopotamian and Hellenistic empires while simultaneously rejecting their totalizing narratives. The book ignites a fuse in readers’ imaginations, inviting and empowering audiences to break out of the prison of imperial imaginaries and to imagine in their place an alternative structure of governance, a path to religious and national freedom, and heavenly existence beyond death.

This volume both reflects on the contested nature of the Wisdom Literature category and takes advantage of the opportunities it presents for reconsidering the concept of wisdom more independently from it. The first half explores wisdom as a concept, with essays on its relationship to skill, epistemology, virtue, theology, and order in the Hebrew Bible, its meaning in related cultures, from Egypt and Mesopotamia to Patristic and Rabbinic interpretation, and, finally, its continuing relevance in the modern world, including in Islamic, Jewish, and Christian thought, and from feminist, environmental, and other contextual perspectives. The latter half considers “Wisdom Literature” as a category. Scholars address its relation to the Solomonic Collection, its social setting, literary genres, chronological development, and theology. Wisdom Literature’s relation to other biblical literature (law, history, prophecy, apocalyptic, and the broad question of “Wisdom influence”) is then discussed before separate chapters on the texts commonly associated with the category. Contributors take a variety of approaches to the current debates surrounding the viability and value of the Wisdom Literature category and its proper relationship to the concept of wisdom in the Hebrew Bible. Though the organization of the volume highlights the independence of wisdom as concept from “Wisdom Literature” as category, seeking to counter the lack of attention given to this question in the traditional approach, the inclusion of both topics together in the same volume reflects their continued interconnection. As such, this handbook both represents the current state of Wisdom scholarship and sets the stage for future developments.

Despite the pervasive early Christian repudiation of pagan theatrical art, especially prior to Constantine, this monograph demonstrates the increasing attention of late-ancient Christian authors to the genre of tragedy as a basis to explore the complexities of human finitude, suffering, and mortality in relation to the wisdom, justice, and providence of God. The book argues that various Christian writers, particularly in the post-Constantinian era, were keenly devoted to the mimesis, or imaginative re-presentation, of the tragic dimension of creaturely existence more than with simply mimicking the poetics of the classical tragedians. It analyzes a whole array of hermeneutical, literary, and rhetorical manifestations of “tragical mimesis” in early Christian writing, which, capitalizing on the elements of tragedy already perceptible in biblical revelation, aspired to deepen and edify Christian engagement with multiform evil and with the extreme vicissitudes of historical existence. Christian tragical mimetics included not only interpreting (and often amplifying) the Bible’s own tragedies for contemporary audiences, but also developing models of the Christian self as a tragic self, revamping the Christian moral conscience as a tragical conscience, and cultivating a distinctively Christian tragical pathos. The study culminates in an extended consideration of the theological intelligence and accountability of “tragical vision” and tragical mimesis in early Christianity, and the unique role of the theological virtue of hope in its repertoire of tragical emotions.

Political theology includes critical reflection on the intersections of religious, political, and economic life, and in the Hebrew Bible, it is articulated in many different ways. Examining a range of key topics—sovereignty, leadership, law, peoplehood, hospitality, redemption, creation, and eschatology—this book focuses in particular on conceptions of nationhood and empire, showing how they have figured in the forming and re-forming of ancient Israel’s social body in a number of geographical settings. The argument suggests that the national imaginary and its imperial alternatives were woven into the biblical traditions by authors who enjoyed very little in the way of political sovereignty. Eight different political theologies are outlined, articulated in the diverse genres of historiography, law, prophecy, and wisdom. The classic biblical literature has shaped the social imaginations of many peoples from ancient Canaan to global Christianity today, so attention is also given to key developments in the history of the Bible’s reception, particularly in the rise of modern polities, and in a variety of colonial projects. Understanding the inner-biblical debates and their later interpretations will continue to be relevant for those who still live within the Bible’s history of reception.

Eric Franklin's first edition of Conditioning for Dance was a bestseller—and it is back and better than ever, offering state-of-the-art conditioning exercises for dancers. An internationally renowned master teacher, Franklin has developed a science-based method of conditioning that is taught and practiced in companies and schools around the world. In this new edition of Conditioning for Dance, he integrates the latest scientific research on strength, flexibility, and conditioning into his dance exercises. New to This Edition Since the first edition, the topic of dancers’ health, wellness, and conditioning has taken on even greater importance in the dance community. Franklin has responded to this increased emphasis by adding these new exercises and resources: • Over 100 new conditioning exercises—for all parts of the body—to support dancers in a wide range of genres, forms, and styles • Over 100 new illustrations and photos to explain and show the exercises • Two new chapters with exercises for a complete conditioning plan In addition, the book is now available in full color to enhance image quality in showing technique. Conditioning for Dance now has separate chapters for shoulders and feet, with additional information on calves and ankles. Franklin also offers practical tips to help you develop your personal conditioning plan. Applying Principles Through the Franklin Method Conditioning for Dance uses the principles of resistance training, physics, anatomy, biomechanics, and neuroplasticity (using imagery for positive mental and physical changes) as applied to dance conditioning. Conditioning for Dance blends imagery, focus, and conditioning exercises for dancers to enhance their technique and performance while practicing injury-prevention strategies. Franklin uses experiential anatomy to show and explain how the conditioning principles work to condition your body. As you undertake the exercises, you gain awareness of the body's function and design and take in the knowledge of the principles through movement. This method, known as the Franklin Method, leads to greater understanding of your body, enhanced performance, and fewer injuries. Franklin developed the training systems within the book as well as a line of equipment, including the Franklin Band and Franklin Balls. Franklin has designed the exercises to transfer directly into dance steps; as such, they are appropriate for incorporating into the preparation time for dance classes. Immediate Benefits Conditioning for Dance offers you the culmination of decades of wisdom and experience in dance conditioning from a master teacher. By using its practical exercises, mind–body relationships, and conditioning routines, and in transferring the book knowledge to body experience, you will notice immediate benefits to your conditioning, strength, and flexibility. You will become kinesthetically aware, create great dance technique from within your own body, and begin to craft injury-free and artistically successful routines.