Download The Social World of the Hebrew Sages Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
An introduction to the social world of the Hebrew sages and the anthropology of ancient Israel's Wisdom literature. As opposed to previous interpretations of and introductions to Israelite Wisdom, which is often treated by scholars as a socially detached phenomenon, this book will enliven the Wisdom tradition, "historicizing" it with a socio-anthropological perspective that pays close attention to literary artistry. Sneed presents a three-dimensional picture of the wisdom tradition against its historical background and the everyday life of ancient Israel. The book examines such topics as societal values, norms, laws, folkways, customs, patriarchalism, theodicy, sexuality, social class conflict, the action-consequence-connection, marriage, education, socialization, racism, ideology, Old Testament ethics, and dissidence. A social-world perspective will inform this introduction to the standard Israelite Wisdom texts (Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, Ben Sira, and Wisdom of Solomon), and the social location of the authors of these texts will receive extensive treatment. A chapter on Jesus as sage and another that reflects on the authority of modern wisdom for religious congregations today will conclude the book. This book will serve as a main text for courses at colleges and seminaries (Wisdom Literature). It will also be used as a supplementary text in university departments of Bible, religion, and theology, in such courses as Wisdom Literature, Introduction to the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Religion of Ancient Israel.
