Exegesis of Wisdom Literature

Catalog description

This course focuses on the close reading of the biblical books of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and pseudopigraphal books of Wisdom of Ben Sira and Wisdom of Solomon designed to refine methods of interpreting the genre of Wisdom Literature as a whole and these books in particular. In the process, attention is given to the genre of Wisdom Literature in the culture of the Ancient Near East and its parallels in the Wisdom Literature of Israel. This course also embraces the studies of the relationship between human character and life circumstances as presented in the Wisdom Corpus themes of life, death, work, etc. The final emphasis is given to the interpretation of Jesus' teaching as those of a wisdom teacher. Prerequisite: BIBL-500