Tracing Sapiential Traditions in Ancient Judaism

This volume is intended to problematize and challenge current conceptions of the category of “Wisdom” and to reconsider the scope, breadth and Nachleben of ancient Jewish sapiential traditions. It considers the formal features and conceptual underpinnings of wisdom throughout the corpus of the Hebrew Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hellenistic Jewish texts, Rabbinic texts, and the Cairo Geniza. It also situates ancient Jewish Wisdom in its Near Eastern context, as well as in the context of Hellenistic conceptions of the Sage.

Table of contents
Is “Wisdom Literature” a Useful Category?/Stuart Weeks
The Theme of Long-Range Planning in the Joseph Narrative and Some Second Temple Period Writings/James Kugel
A Reflection on the Nature of Wisdom From Psalm 1 to Mesopotamian Traditions/Stéphanie Anthonioz
Spiritual Formation in Hellenistic Jewish Wisdom Teaching/Elisa Uusimäki
Ben Sira and Hellenistic Literature in Greek/Benjamin G. Wright III
Sage as Prophet? Allusion and Reconfiguration in Ben Sira and Other Second Temple Wisdom Texts/Samuel L. Adams
Sages and Saints: Continuous Study and Transformation in Musar le-Mevin and Serekh ha-Yaḥad/Arjen Bakker
Searching for Wisdom in and beyond 4QInstruction/Matthew Goff
The Simple Bare Necessities: Is Pss. Sol. 5 a Wisdom Prayer?/Patrick Pouchelle
Pirqé Avot and Wisdom Tradition/Maurice Gilbert, S. J.
The Wisdom Tradition in Rabbinic Literature and Mishnah Avot/Ishay Rosen-Zvi
Manuals of Mantic Wisdom: From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Cairo Genizah/Gideon Bohak