W isdom L iterature: Proverbs Ecclesiastes Job SCBC Adult Sunday School January – April, 2013

Approaching the Wisdom Books: Introduction & Interpretive Issues  Barbara Leung Lai What is Wisdom? – ‘Embracing Tensions’

I.Introduction—Proverbs, Job, Eccles. A. Engaging the Wisdom Books in Times like this—against the chaotic world of the 21 st century B. Depth, ambiguity, and complexity of the Old Testament (J. Goldingay) all represented in the Wisdom Books C. Intertextual tensions existing among the three books (Diagram A) (a)The “Two-Way” Doctrine Prov 3:33; 13:21 Eccles 7:15; 8:12-14 Prov 23:17 Job 22:13; 21:17

(b) The Incomprehensibility of God and the seeking of Humanity Prov 8:17; 2:2-7 Job 42: 1-5; Eccles 8:16-17; Prov. 25:2 (c) Articulating the nature of the tension E.g., norm and exception; macro and micro; eternal and temporal; and … D. Bridging between the ‘then’ and ‘now’ (a) A Big ‘HOW’? (b) How to resolve? Or, How to be sustained in tension?

Diagram (A): A Text-anchored and Reader-oriented Model Leung Lai The text imposes intrinsic textual constraints upon the reader The reader brings extrinsic Contextual constraints to the text ( III ) The Dynamics of the Reading Process (The Merging of the Two Horizons) ( I ) ( II ) Text / Bible Reader/Interpreter Tension (Text-centered and Reader-oriented)

II. What is Wisdom? A. Defining Wisdom (a) Criteria for definition: Concerns, thinking, genre/form (b) Content/theme of each book (c) Suggested Definitions(Common approach to reality): Understanding of Reality The art of living The ability to cope/master life The way of wisdom (how to walk) The Steering of life The dynamics of life The Search for order (two dimensions): o God’s created order o the principle of God’s ruling

Murphy’s summary: “Wisdom is not a single action, nor the observation of a single proverb. It is the orientation to life that a person has, the core of one’s being or heart from which actions bring.” - Murphy, The Tree of Life (Millennium Supplement, p. 231) Wisdom reflects a common approach to the understanding of reality: through reflection; faith seeking understanding; collective lived experience under the sun; experiential knowledge …

God grant me the SERENITY to accept the things I cannot change. COURAGE to change the things I can. and WISDOM to know the difference.

III. What is Wisdom Theology (Diagram B) (a) Wisdom and Creation (b) The understanding of reality (c) The Search for Order (d) Experience as a means of God’s revelation (e) Faith seeking understanding (f) Knowledge and the Fear of the Lord

Diagram “B” Two-fold Hermeneutical Framework: God reaching-out/speaking to Humanity & Humanity reaching-out/speaking to God A New Dimension of God’s Revelation to Humanity GOD HUMANITY UNIVERSEBIBLE Human Response Special Revelation God Reveals Himself through the history of humankind Human Experience under the sun Rm 1:20 Natural Revelation (Prov 6:6-8; 10:29; 30:18-32; 4:3-9; 7:6;11:24; 17:27-28; 18:16; Eccles, Job, Ps 73) Job, Eccles, Psalms (Laments, praises, petitions) 2 Tim 3:16 N.B. This diagram illustrates the `essence’ and `combination’ of Theocentric and Anthropocentric Leung Lai Faith Seeking Understanding

IV. Appropriation: Current Approaches (interpretive Strategy) to the Wisdom Books (A) Paradigm Shift: purely theocentric  radically anthropocentric (B) Recommended Current Approaches Trajectory: formation--deformation--reformation orientation--disorientation--reorientation (a) character formation & Proverbs (b) The Nature of Job’s Suffering (Job 1:8) (c) Eccles-- A paradigm of ‘faith seeking understanding’ (a treatise, reflection, self-narrated life, journa l, thinking-out-loud)