Dirac_Delta

Hello everybody. This is my first attempt of a thread on this Biblical Criticism forum. I've been reading the Proverbs book and I would like to know what is the relation between this book and the "Wisdom" tradition, if there's any. Also I would like to know if you think that is possible that the capter 9, wich talks about some kind of "souper", may be related with some esoteric tradition ("wisdom" tradition, or something like it), maybe some ritual, that later influenced the last "souper" of Christ story. What do you think?

Toto

Ah, you mean "supper".

There are academics who write long, profound theses on the meaning of meals in Biblical times. But I doubt that there is anything very esoteric about it, any more than there is to the Jewish seder or the Japanese tea ceremony.

PS - welcome to the forums!

MysteryProf

As for "Wisdom" tradition, Proverbs is indeed written in traditional wisdom format -- it gets compared to Egyptian wisdom lit a lot of the time. Although Proverbs doesn't exactly have any mind-blowingly esoteric content (at least not that I know of), scholars to like to point out things like Wisdom's apparent position as God's right hand woman and sexual imagery pertaining to Wisdom.

If you want juicier wisdom lit, look at things from the Hellenistic period -- apocryphal documents like "The Wisdom of Solomon" are pretty fun. Even Sirach has some interesting perspectives on Wisdom. It gives some good insight into Hellenized Judaism. There are also some interesting comparisons between Sophia and Logos, which can refer to Wisdom and Jesus, respectively.

A good book to read on the issue: "Jewish Widsom in the Hellenistic Age" by John J. Collins. Marcus Borg gives the connection to Jesus a shallow but easy-to-understand treatement in "Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time." I think Karen Armstrong might also deal with it in "A History of God."