Abstract
While biblical scholars have traditionally approached wisdom as a body of literature or a literary genre, this article aims at reevaluating the meaning and role of wisdom in the ancient Jewish tradition, with a focus on the evidence from the Second Temple period. Setting aside the question of literary classification, the author argues that wisdom can instead be understood as a cultural phenomenon involving a range of lived practices to be undertaken and performed by a person or group seeking or claiming to possess wisdom. To illustrate the argument, the article outlines three cases of wisdom's lived dimensions that emerge from early Jewish writings: the rise of the sage as an exemplar, the lifestyle of the wisdom teacher, and the pursuit of wisdom as a communal enterprise. These aspects of the Jewish wisdom tradition have been overlooked but must be brought to the forefront of research to help scholars move beyond the current fixation on wisdom as a body of literature.
| Translated title of the contribution | Lived Wisdom in the Ancient Jewish Tradition |
|---|---|
| Original language | Finnish |
| Journal | Teologinen Aikakauskirja |
| Volume | 128 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages (from-to) | 243-255 and 259 |
| ISSN | 0040-3555 |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2023 |