The Personification of WisdomThis book examines the personification of Wisdom as a female figure - a central motif in Proverbs, Job, Sirach, Wisdom and Baruch. Alice M. Sinnott identifies how and why the complex character of Wisdom was introduced into the Israelite tradition, and created and developed by Israelite/Jewish wisdom teachers and writers. Arguing that by personifying Wisdom the authors of Proverbs responded to Israel's defeat by Babylon and the loss of Davidic monarchy, and by retrieving and transforming the Wisdom figure the authors of Sirach, Baruch and Wisdom responded to the spread of Hellenism and the potential loss of identity for Jews. Sinnott concludes that personified Wisdom functioned to reinterpret and transform the Israelite/Jewish tradition. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
1 Origins of Personified Wisdom | 10 |
2 Wisdom Responds to a Crisis | 53 |
3 Wisdom Where Shall She Be Found? | 88 |
An Enduring Heritage | 110 |
5 Personified Wisdom as Saviour | 142 |
6 Conclusion | 171 |
| 179 | |
| 198 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Ahiqar ancient Near Eastern appears aretalogies Asherah attributes audience author of Wisdom Babylonian Baruch Ben Sira biblical wisdom book of Baruch Book of Proverbs century BCE chapter claims context covenant creation Creator cult Deut Deuteronomy divine Egyptian emphasises exilic faithful figure of Wisdom gift God’s goddess Greek Hebrew Hellenism Hellenistic heritage human identified imagery influence interpretation Isaiah Isis Israel Israelite Israelite tradition Israelite wisdom Jeremiah Jerusalem Jews Judaism Kayatz Kloppenborg land of Israel Leila literary Lord Ma’at Mesopotamian metaphor motifs notion Old Testament personification of Wisdom personified Wisdom portrayal portrayed post-exilic present prophetic Prov Proverbs 1-9 Psalm relationship righteous Ringgren role Sagesse scholars Sira Sira’s Sirach Skehan speaks speech suggests teaching Temple theodicy Theology Torah verses Weisheit Whybray Wisdom figure Wisdom in Proverbs wisdom literature Wisdom of Solomon wisdom poem wisdom teacher wisdom tradition wisdom writers woman word YHWH YHWH’s