Wisdom
Lit.: Davis
1/9/95:
Lecture
Wisdom
literature of the O.T. applies to our daily lives. What kind of guidance does
it offer for our daily lives? Proverbs is Israel 's 'street-sense'. Hard to
get into it. Yet, for pre-modern Xns and
Jews, it was commonly used. It was a
favorate book of the Protestant Reformers. Why? Davis : useful in viewing community-living
outside monastic life.
This
course: Proverbs, Song of Songs and Ecclesiasties. All attributed to Solomon. They were located in 'The Writings'. In 90
C.E., canonical status of it was debated.
The Mishnah, at 200 C.E., included the works in the Writings. Why
opposition to canonical status? A lack
of theology in Proverbs. Also, they
don't address Isreal's special place.
Also, Song of Songs was sung in taverns. Also, difficult to interpret
these books. For instance, Song of Songs--the general idea is not clear. So, proper interp. had to be specified.
Proverbs:
short sentences, spiraling style. Silence surrounds the sentences; pondering is
necessary.
Imaginative
attempts to construct a world, a vision of community, after exile in a world
where your neighbor may not be your kin.
Proverbs does this practically. A positive outlook, yet not nieve. Not a simplistic view of the world.
Qohelet
tackles the question of existential meaning. God is remote for him. Hellinistic
Jerusalem was the culture within which Qohelet wrote. Far from the world that
Torah and prophets addressed. The
remoteness of God hurts him.
Song
of Songs, unlike the other two, does not confront the social world directly,
but evokes a dream-world. Powers of love over that of the world. An ascetic
withdrawl from the world.
So,
these books are attempts by Hellinistic Israel to reckon with the world.
Ideas such as 'election' and 'covenant' were no longer meaningful for many
Jews. Davis : is
this not unlike us--living in a society in which God seems remote.
A
proverb is useful in conflict resolution. 1 Sam 16:7. Function of this proverb:
God's will above human wisdom; the human sees only what is visible whereas the
Lord sees into the heart. A proverb
doesn't 'invent' but shows an accumulation of wisdom from the generations.
1/16/95
Israel
is one of two near east cultures that wrote in alphabetic script. A great achievement. The mystic of the scribe
has been reduced in ancient Israel. The
scribe becomes an interpretor. The
definition of success to an Egyption scribe: life, health, and prosperity. Righteousness, integrity and virtue were
those of the hebrew scribe. Seems to
come out of Prophets. So, little attn to
Wisdom section of O.T. The Torah is like
a deep well; Solomon, in his Wisdom material enables one to draw out of it. So,
Wisdom literature was indeed important to ancient Israel.
Wayne
Booth, The Company We Keep, and The Ethics of Fiction. Booth: ethical question of literature: what
kind of desirer will I be? Lit. is about
desire. Wisdom in proverbs is portrayed
as desirable. Not for power or wealth,
athough these may come. Different
reasons: for righteousness. An essential connection between Wisdom and goodness
(indiv. and communal).
Wisdom
as strange to us: the radical simplicity.
Agn. too much knowledge.
Panikkar: the opposite of Wisdom is not foolishness or ignorance, but is
too much knowledge (too much specialization).
A university should be a community, yet dept.s don't communicate with
each other. The Bible is not interested
in specialized abstract knowledge. Yet, it is valued in our education. Isreal
kept knowledge on how to live well in the presence of God. Egypt and other cultures focused on
specialties such as math, archetecture.
To
Augustine, Sapientia=Wisdom (understanding the world-entering into relation to
the other); Scientia=scientific knowledge (manipulating the world to make it
useful to us--controlling what is outside of ourselves). No evil can be made of
the former. The latter is not inherently
bad, but can be so if directed to our own ends in spite of the general welfare,
according to Augustine. If we succeed in the former, self-restraint is
involved--due to a concern for the well-being of the other (whether another
human or God). Wisdom takes account of
its own ignorance. Wisdom: we can never know, even after all the consequences
of our action. Davis: this is necessary
for our generation. The crisis of our
age: scientia has vastly outpaced sapientia.
A lack of self-restraint. Needed:
desire for Wisdom over seeking to know without regard for the ends of our
knowledge.
Discipline: a negative term for us. For the sages, discipline is a positive
value. See Proverbs 15:32. By
correction, one gains a heart. The fool
is one who can't entertain the possibility of being wrong or being
corrected. Proverbs: no pain, no
gain. A self is not a static entity but
is acquired. Proverbs sees it in
formation through the discipline obedience of those who are wiser than
ourselves. One who castes off discipline hates oneself. Augustine echos this. Augustine is concerned with how to live in
community, which was the concern of the sages in Proverbs. Obedience to elders is the anvel upon which
personality is forged. Our inner self is
made firm by submitting ourselves to the authority of others(living or dead)
and accepting their wisdom as being determinative for one's life. It takes a lot of trust. Today, trust is in short supply.
Fear
of the Lord is discipline Wisdom. So,
Wisdom, discipline, and fear (reverence) of the Lord are tied together. Fear of the Lord is foreign today. Reverence or awe doesn't quite get at it.
Fear is our first response to our recognition to seeing God as He really
is. In Exodus, fear on both sides of the
Red Sea: of the Egyptions and then of Yahweh.
Nothing neurotic about fearing God when experiencing God's power.
Proverbs 1:29--in choosing to fear the Lord, it is an ethical issue. Is it a feeling or virtue? John Donne, Sermons, Vol. 6. A commentary on Ps 34.11. He argues that it
is a virtue. No opposition between the
fear and love of God.
The
overall structure of Proverbs:
Ch.s
1-9 thought to be latter than 10-31.
This book came together in the fourth or third centuries, B.C.E. It is post-exilic work. It is in an urban setting. Israel became
increasingly urban from the monarchy on.
Friendship emphasized in Proverbs, so probably not in a kinship society.
General
structure: 1-9: intro; 10-29: problems of Solomon; 30-31 lements.
A
spiraling of themes throughout.
The
audience: probably young men--students. With Wisdom as a woman, the love of
learning is being cultivated.
The
power of word to transform and shape reality. Imp., therefore, to watch your
speech. Abuses of speech are words spoken out of season. Ordering speech as ordering society; careless
speaking destroys the community.
Ch.s
1-3:
Purpose
of proverbs: to give prudence to the simple (as yet uncommitted--a natural
attribute of youth; vulnerability; untutored ignorance). The scorners--hold on to their lack of
commitment.
Wisdom:
a dramatic, motivating quality to her.
At times she sounds like a prophet (1:24-6)--...I have called and you
have refused. they would not listen to me. ...then I shall laugh at your calamity.
Ch.
3 shows connection with Torah. v. 3: like Deut. 6. v. 18: like garden of eden. Proverbs is the only book that uses the Tree
of Life. Wisdom is the way back to
eden. Adam and Eve eat from the tree of
knowledge. God fears that they would touch the tree of life and live eternally
if they had stayed. Eden means
'delight'. So, Wisdom is the way back to
the mutual delight with God. Genesis
2:15--humans commanded to keep the garden: there are limits there. Eating the apple: rep.s a transgressing of
limits. Gen. 3:1-6: We are told that Eve is tempted. Eve has coveted the apple:
she separated obedience from the acquisition of Wisdom. Her sin is that she distrusted God and that
she wanted to gain Wisdom herself, rather than that she gained a knowledge of
good and evil per se. It was cheap knowledge,
for it came from herself rather than from God. Wisdom is a gift, not to be
obtained from seeking. Wisdom comes from
trusting God. In seeking it themselves,
Adam and Eve sinned, so God brought displeasure to our creativity
(child-bearing and rearing). The tree of life held out in Proverbs is a promise
of healing this; a way of going back to eden.
1/23/95
Prov.
1:6-- to understand: 'mashal', a comparison between two things. A particular
genre, or figure of speech. Davis: the sages are self-conscious. A condensed form of poetry. What is the
difference in the form? Prov. 11:1 and
20:10--same content; different form.
11:1--balances of deceit, an abomination; whole stone, is favor. 20:10--A stone and a stone, an abomination of
the Lord, the two of them.
11:1--antithetical
parallelism: two things compared.
20:10--
a riddling form, according to Alter.
18:24--there
are friends who play at friendship, and there are those who stick closer than a
brother. Plural in the former, singular in the latter.
14:30--In
life of the flesh, a heart of healing as opposed to jealesy which rots the
bones. An opposition here. Not told whose heart is healed or who is
rotted. Either could apply to either
person in a relationship.
27:7--A
satisfied throat, appetite, or self (soul in English; nefesh in Hebrew) either
treads upon or despises honeycomb, and a hungry nefesh every bitter thing is
sweet. Antithetical parallelism: which
is the good one? Stuffed and hungry are
neutral words, but can be taken as extremes.
Either too stuffed or hungry is bad. But, either one can be seen as
good. Davis: the world is not so cut and dry for the sages; not every
antithetical parallel in Proverbs points to a good vs. a bad.
13:24--The
one withholding his rod hates his son, and the one loving him looks early to
him discipline. (English proverb
associated with this: spare the rod, spoil the child). Davis: the word 'discipline' is used in
proverbs as 'self-discipline' a lot.
Developing self-discipline is something that one can pass onto someone
else. Early: beyond a certain age,
discipline cannot be instilled internally.
22:6--the
translation is off in syntax. Educate a
youth according to his way, even when he grows old he will not depart from
it. Davis: pay attn to this child. Bring
him up in his own way. Notice what is particular to you r child.
29:18--Davis:
with a lack of vision comes a squandering of energies--not necessarily
destruction.
2:7
and 10:29-- 'Tam': to be possessed of integrity; 'Tammah': integrity. Tamion: an expression of wholeness. Translated as 'blameless'. These are not the same.
That
antithtical parallelism is used does not mean that the sages had a 'black and
white' view of life.
Davis:
purpose of the text: to teach of life in the presence of God. This doesn't mean that the biblical sages did
not know about the human psyche.
Why
is there so much emphasis on sexuality in Proverbs? The 'strange woman'. Wisdom as a woman attractive to a young
man. Ch. 8: feminine aspect involved in
the creation of the world. The person
you will marry determines to a great extent what you will know.
Prov.
7. 'foreign woman' or 'strange woman'.
Why not referred to as 'adulterous'?
Israel was a patrimonial society (wealth passed on through the father's
line). So, if go with an adulterer, you
could disenfranchise your children.
Also, a foreign woman may lead you to a foreign god. Foreign worship is idolitry. Keep God's commandments and keep away from
the foreign woman (implying that she would lead one away from the
commandments). The harlot has a guarded
heart, like a blockaded city. If her
heart is hidden, she is defended but he is vulnerable. Leaves only him open to danger. She offers him no relationship. 7:19--her relationship with her husband is
not intitmate. 7:11--she is rebellious
and gluttonous--how Isreal is described.
Israel is unfaithful to Yahweh.
7:21--the flattering of her lips--the lack of wisdom, used to
force(thrash him down--into exile) him.
Davis: resonance here with the words in the rest of scripture. 7:25-- 'ways and paths' as a phrase is used a
lot in Proverbs.
Prov.
8. In rejecting Wisdom, is one rejecting
the world as it has been created? Is
part of Wisdom accepting the world as it is and not imposing on it?
Prov.
9. Wisdom and Folly can be seen as two
contending deities. A mythological
dimension.
1/30/95
The
Instruction of the Vizier Ptah-Hotep:
The
height of the Old Kingdom (pyramid) age. 2686-2181 BCE. It was written in 2450, in the middle of this
stable Kingdom. The idea of the after-life was salient: the idea--let it be
like Egypt. The instruction was for a royal school. Emphasis is on good speech.
Listening is valued. The contrast to the
angry man is the silent man. This is in
Hebrew wisdom lit. The instructor is old and is passing on his wisdom to his
son. The future can be improved from the
present. Timing is important. Though he
makes reference to class distinctions, he states that even the lowest can use
wisdom. Ma'at, or 'justice', is salient
in Egyptian wisdom. Proverbs picks up on
this. Also, an emphasis on generosity,
yet not a simplistic view of wealth.
The
Akkadian Proverbs and Counsels:
This
is folk wisdom. Some of this in
Proverbs--sayings about daily life.
Clement's
Wisdom in Theology:
Three
stages: Folk wisdom, court wisdom, and post exilic. Proverbs is written as court wisdom. Israel went into exile with Wisdom in its
'first draft'. So, much could be done
with it then. Also, it was not as tied
as the written Torah was to the nation-state.
Wisdom is modest in its expectations about the future and God's action.
Reflects the exile. On the social
background of Wisdom literature, see Robert Gordis, 'The Social Background of
Wisdom Literature, in Poets, Prophets,
and Sages. He argues that it was
formed between the sixth and second centuries, BCE. It was not a working-class phenomenon. Wisdom literature, being of the upper class,
has a conservative bent. Also, the
Wisdom literature assumes an urban society.
Opposition to social change.
Clement
also points out that Wisdom has been marginalized as a part of the O.T. Why?
It is not a narrative. Also, it is anthropocentric; less so theological. Also, it conflicts with Torah (ethical
teachings). The words are more
abstract. Others, such as covenant and
election, which are more concrete as in God's actions in history, are not in
Wisdom lit. Also, creation is an
important moment in Proverbs--rather than exodus as the central moment. Protestant theology has seen exodus as being
central to O.T. For example, von Rad sees creation as well as Sinai as being
secondary to that of God's actions in Israel's history. See: Leo Perdue, Wisdom and Creation.
Creation can be used as a criterion to view Wisdom Lit. James Crenshaw has written an introductory
text on Wisdom lit.: His view is not theological. He sees Job as trumping God on the matter of
justice.
Pieper,
'Prudence':
Modern
usage: selfish, clever tactics, cunning(astutia). His usage: using reality as a means; having
foresight. Prudence: as cognition, the
ability to be still in order to obtain an objective perception of reality. And, the foresight to use this
perception. A telos assumed. It is
opposed to wanting security(covetous).
Davis: how far ahead can we see the consequences of our actions? This would sober us up. Especially now that we have the technology to
make massive changes.
Proverbs:
Poor
speech is undisciplined. It is a cause of destruction. Things you say that you don't intend (saying
secrets, boasting)--if you talk just to keep talking. Davis: reproof is relevant. Wise speech involves waiting. 18:13--folly to give answer before one hears. Listening is important. Waiting also to make
sure that I understand my own intensions (the ordering of my heart) 16:1. Know the motive behind your speech. Responsibility comes with one's speech. Gossip in the narrow sense is slander. Davis: Proverbs is about the well-being of
the community. Nobody benefits from
gossip because it is given behind someone's back. Reproof, in contrast,
benefits the person, and thus, the community.
Laziness
is also a cause of destruction. The lazy
man speaks without discipline(20:4).
Laziness hurts the community.
Work doesn't get done. Davis: not
being willing to do the work of repentance; of change. Also, if think of the
world from a creation standpoint, we have an obligation to work. Davis:
Proverbs has a complex view of wealth.
It is connected at points to wisdom, but it is not the ultimate end. 14:20-1--a complex view of poverty. 18:12--Before
a break, the heart is proud; before honour, humility. Pride is a cause of downfall. But, 'honour
before humility' can mean that humility is better. Davis: these proverbs are stated in a
universal way, but not as definate rules. Every proverb is slice of life,
rather than a generalizable statement about how the world works.
2/13/95
On
Claudia Camp:
Her
question: what is the relation between the feminine imagery in ch.s 1-9 and 31
and 'sentence wisdom' in ch.s 10-30? Her
method: literary. Symbolic lang. Lang. functions vis a vis a historical
context. Her question is a literary problem because it deals with different
genre and a theological problem. Ch.s 10-29 are more common sense,
universalistic.
Religious
and secular aspects of Proverbs. See: Wm McKane, Proverbs: A New Approach. A developmental view: the early sages have
secular concerns such as individual
success. Then, concerned with the life of the community. Then, they link these to Israel's religion by
incerting 'God' lang. into some proverbs. See ch. 16 of Proverbs. McKane doesn't see ch.s 1-9 as late. Rather,
he sees theological additions in them.
He sees the three stages in proverbs and uses them in circular
reasoning--using Proverbs to show three stages.
G.
von Rad, Wisdom in Israel (1972). No
developmental schema from early secularity to later religiousity in Wisdom.
Rather, need to look from the tensions within Israel. A tension between secular and religious
interests within Israel. He looks at the
'Solomonic Enlightenment'. The
succession narrative: God is in the background. A tension between palace
politics and God's guidance behind the scenes.
A polarity between secularity and God's power. Fear of the Lord: reminds us that behind the
acquisition of knowledge is a realm of mystery.
Knowledge of the unknowable.
Davis: is he attributing too much to the personal aspect of the sages in
holding together the tension between human agency and God's power. See Prov. 16:9.
Camp's
contribution: acknowledges a tension, but not between different proverbs. Like H. Schmid, she sees the tension at the
point when the proverbs were written down.
When an oral phen. is 'hardened' into a written collection. See Walter Ong, Orality and Literacy. What happens when oral words are taken out of
their social setting and recontextualized into the written word. Davis: context is important in Proverbs. So, need to know the assumptions of the
culture in which they were said and written down. Need to be an insider. So, when written, Proverbs lost their
connection to the community of speakers.
For Camp, the dialectic is not between the secular and religious, but
the fluidity of the oral and the 'case-hardened meanings' of the written. In
the latter, the proverbs sound dogmatic (of retributive justice) which counters
the idea of God's mercy and of human freedom.
The common-sense of a community incorporates its religious
perspective. So, no 'universal' common-sense. The common sense relfects its values and
myths. So, the written form distorts
this connection, including the way in which the theology is incorporated into
the common sense. Davis: she is
basically right. Clements assumes that
the dogmatic retributive aspect in Proverbs was in its oral form. Are proverbs on cause and effect or on
moments in the human experience?
If
it is the writting down that creates the problem between common sense and the
theological, then a literary solution is necessary. Camp sees ch.s 1-9 as the
literary solution. They are both old and new.
They are set there to recontextualize the sentence wisdom that
follows. For example, Prov. 24:3-4(act
wisely and your house will have rich stuff) is recontextualized by ch.s
1-9. Ch. 9: Wisdom, as the good wife,
builds her house. This personification of Wisdom mediates between the divine
and human realms and creates unity. The
figure of wisdom draws together the proverbs.
Having been taken out of their interaction in oral mode, this
recontextualization was necessary.
Still, a performance mode is necessary.
Being
written, can the Prverbs be used by one not belonging to the community? Israel would say no.
Form
criticism was used to argue that ch.s 1-9 came later than the rest because the
former are of a longer form than are the sentence proverbs. Davis: this assumption is flawed. 'Long' doesn' t necessarily mean
'later'. Clements' use of function and
context to date chapters is a better way.
But, Davis maintains that ch.s 1-9 are both early and late.
Influence
of the Egyptian Amen-em-Opet on ch.s 22-24.
Also, influence of the Aremaic Ahikar literature. Impact of Amen-em-Opet: value on the silent
man as being the wise man. The
listening person is the one who is wise. Be careful about what you say to a
superior. A concern for justice. God-language: the will of God is to do what
is just.
Prov.s
23-30:
23:31-35--a
riddle. It shows wine in a new light. Seductiveness and compusiveness of
it. The function of a riddle: breaks
down things into component parts. The
way of breaking something down forces us to see reality in a new way, with a
greater awareness of the complexity of reality.
28:3--a
poor gentleman, not a ruler, who oppresses the poor, is a beating rain that
leaves no food. Just as one longs for
the rain, one longs for the poor to get power. But, if they get it and abuse it, it is an
even worse condition. Too much rain runs
off the top soil.
A
translation error.
24:10-12--it
is a call to responsibility.
Throughout
these proverbs, a positive value for working.
27:23-27--'latifundialization':
paying off political debts with land. Don't count on the riches from someone
else (political clients). The rich
shouldn't get to far separated from a subsistance-level economy.
2/20/95
Von
Rad emphasizes on a new intellectual mood in the tenth century, B.C. (a
Solomonic enlightenment)--a move toward secularization, thus laying a polarity
between the theological and secular in the canon.
Knowledge
and the care of creation:
How
do we handle knowledge in our culture?
What is the difference between wisdom and knowledge? Scientia over sapienia(wisdom) today. Peter Gillingham, 'The Making of Good Work',
in E.F. Schumacher, Good Work, Harper, 1979: the industrial revolution (the
first revolution)--a revolution in the way knowledge is handled. Before, knowedge was attached to the court
(the elite). Now, a proliferation of
knowledge people at different levels.
Some generate it (scholars and researchers), organize it (librarians,
computer scientists), transmitting it (teachers), and applying it. So, an information culture. The link between power and knowledge has been
tightened. Large-scale power organizations. An abundance of information. Also, now the information we need comes from
far away. Not a locally-based economy. So, no personal way of verifying the
information we get. Less local
control. These things separate us from
the people of the Bible. It changes how
it is relevant to us: Prov. 25:13--rare are faithful messengers. This is especially relevant in today's
society.
Education
today has changed. More formal
education. The acquistion of knowledge
is separated from the production of work.
Gillingham: life used to be experience rich, stimulus poor. Now, the reverse. But, productive work
provides an opportunity for self-education.
So, a gap between education and work.
Good work: that which can be ascribed value and is not harmful to the
earth (sustainable work). Wisdom seems
to have to do with relationships: the wholeness of reality. Yet, we have an increasingly specialized
system of education. So, harder to see
that everything connects today. Prov.
3:19--Wisdom holds the relations of the world together; the human perception of
the wholeness of the world. But, this is
not how we generally pursue wisdom, or theological education in general. Also, an educational system which focuses on
abstractions is not in line with wisdom or what is good for the world. If the created world is a unity, and if we
approach this unity via specialized disciplines without making linkages, then
we are violating prudence--an objective perception of reality that does not
begin with my ego. A gap between the
nature of abstractions and the nature of reality. In terms of ecological thinking, see Aldo
Leopold, Sand County Almanac. What is
happening in the natural world in a county in Michigan through the year. The science of relationships is ecology. How does the educated individual know that he
is cog in a mechanism? To survive, one
must go along with the mechanism. Education
is learning to see one thing by going blind in another.
Job
38: He realizes that he didn't
understand God. God tells him to open
his eyes to a world which is wild--which is dangerous and cannot be controlled. Job wants to control the world--because he is
blameless, he expects justice on his own terms.
Job has been demanding justice (mishpat) from God. God's answer (40:8): will you make God wrong
in order to have the justice you think you deserve? God challenges Job to find his place in
mishpat--such as to admire or love that which he can't control. How does this effect the notion that humans
have dominian over creation. To have
integrity is to be able to find one's place in a larger whole which one can't
control and yet give thanks for that.
Proverbs sages likewise suggest a wisdom from a contemplative rather
than a manipulative stance (30:24-28).
See in relation 6:6-8--the ants produce without a leader. Prov. 30--if we are to be dependent on
creation, should we not emulate it.
Human superiority: that we can learn from them whereas they can't learn
from us.
Joseph
Hall: an Anglican theologian (1574-1656) who was a Calvinist. He taught the art of meditation. He states: he looks at the creatures to see
the working of God. He was fond of
Proverbs as to what constitutes holiness in daily life. He wrote: the Economics of Solomon--in the
sense of ordering the household. Can
proverbs be seen as providing a basis for being at home in the world. Davis: to live responsibility--to be responsible
for what one leaves behind.
Hall
also had a theology of vocations: of any vocation. Good work is not just monastic vocations. In
the Bible, Proverbs and Eccles. refer to work. Any vocation, if done in
obedience, with respect to giving thanks to God, is good.
Clements:
Wisdom lit seems works as a blessing.
Davis:
the effect of our work is so far-reaching now that we can't leave it up to
secular society. So, the Church needs to
consider 'good work' not just in abstractions.
Prov.s
30-1:
30:2--Limits
to human understanding. This point is
developed in later wisdom literature. See Job 28. Prov.s 7-9 lends itself to this--a direct
appeal to God.
In
earlier proverbs, death is a punishment.
In 30, it is a limit. Wisdom: in
living within limits.
The
theme of 30: If one has too much wisdom, it is not good because one may deny
God. But too little wisdom is not good either.
On
wealth in Proverbs. See R. N.
Whybray. Davis: If you do good, you will
prosper. And, the righteousness of the
wealthy is measured by how they treat the poor.
Possible to be just if wealthy unless you are satisfied with what is
enough.
31:
The song sung by the husband to his wife
on the Sabbath.
Valorized
image of a woman. How compare to such
images in the earlier proverbs and to our society? 31 stands out in Near East literature as
literature valorizing the woman. Her
house is salient in 30. The woman in 30
has economic power. Her procreative role
is not salient. She exercises her power
at home. Home in post-exilic Israel was
the place of economic production. Davis:
a difference between a subsistance economy and a consumer-mass economy. See Gillingham. Schumacher: homecomers vs. people of the
onward stampeed. Homecomers are
concerned about the scale in their lives--it has gotten out of hand. Coming home rather than upward mobility.
2/27/95
Ecclesiastes:
Almost
not included in the canon. Religious
aspect was questioned. 9:10 seems to
deny an afterlife. Every part of the
canon does not express the full witness to God.
So, in looking at the canon with its overt disagreements, can get a
sense of the vitality of Judaism.
On
the religious value of the book:
Martin
Luther thought that it should be read daily.
Thanksgiving, Present (use that which is), and Given (that which is
given. God is the giver). The focus is
on the present.
In
Judaism, the book is used in Sukkot, the festival of booths (harvest festival)
on its third day. The Sukkot is
associated with wandering in the wilderness.
They ate in booths. Davis:
liturgical use is a statement of how it is understood. Associations: God is the giver of all. A harvest festival underscores this and the
dependence on God in that what is given is temporary. Eating in booths: as they ate in the desert
where food was given very temporarily and dependence on Yahweh was
evident. Also, joy is a theme in the
festival, especially in studying the Torah.
The ninth day of it is devoted to studying the Torah. Also, messianic dimensions (let us build
three booths). The rabbi says that the
change that will come with the messiah is that Israel will be free to study the
Torah.
Some
Xns have seen this book as a negative witness to Christ. Not to get too religious. Barth on a negative witness: In it, a void becomes visible. To do away with the 'criminal arrogance of
religion'. Ecclesiastes may do away
with such an arrogance.
The
Egyption Literature:
King
Meri-Ka-Re: How like Ecclesiastes:
emphasizes things of this life. The transience of our life. God is hidden yet can effect what we see.
Yet, a different way of thinking of death--a belief in an after-life.
A
Song of the Harper: Is there a moral dimension in rejoicing/hedonism? This same question could be asked in regard
to Ecclesiastes where hedonism leads to vanity which seems to be morally wrong.
The
Dialogue of Pessimism: Bottero's view: it pokes fun at traditional religiosity
wherein the actions of a master are valued.
A beginning of the idea of transcendence. Davis: this does not seem like an appeal to
transcendence. Rather, it shows a gap
between an intension and outcome.
Ecclesiastes,
Ch. 3:
v.1-9 is a summary of the essential elements
of the Dialogue of Pessimism, according to Bottero. What gain has a worker from his toil. Man's actions to the same object cancel each
other out such that nothing remains in the end and the actions are futile. Davis: but, v. 11. God has put 'olam', the mystery of the
world, into our hearts yet not of what God's time is. v. 14: everything that God is doing is in a
sense Torah. God puts into our hearts
more than what we can get. That is
frustrating. God is distant, yet we are given the urge to reach him.
Vanity: the Hebrew word is hebel: mist or vapor, literally meaning. Fox translates it as moral absurdity (the gap
between our intention and the result).
Fishe: panic and emptiness. Davis: take seriously its literal meaning in
how it is used metaphorically. Something
that is here only for a moment, easily dispursed. Uses of hebel elsewhere: See Ps. 39: let me
know how fleeting my life is. Don't be
religiously insensible. Everyone is mist.
See Prov. 13:11--wealth hastily gotten will be as mist. Prov.31:30--beauty is vain. Eccl. 3:20--'adam' used in ths book to mean
'a person'. All are from dust and return
to it. Like vapor disbursing.
Davis:
method: look at whether an echo (a word used elsewhere) is deliberate. For example, Genesis is part of the frame of
reference for Eccls. Can see this by
tracing echos.
What
is hebel? 1:14--all the deeds under the sun.
2:23--work. But, 5:18--toil is a
source of enjoyment. 4:4--all toil and
all skill out of envy is hebel. How
reconcile? Work is hebel if motivated by
jealasy whereas not so if motivated by a desire to do God's will.
Fishe: His book is on how the Bible fits with an
aesthetic norm. In the O.T., both a
mythic vision and the shattering of it.
What is beautiful in the Bible?
The word 'beautiful' is used rarely in scripture, but where used, it is
used in regard to something in motion.
'Good' is used more.
Fox:
More than one author in Eccls. The epilogue is a central part of the book. Giving us a voice that we can trust. The
frame: Eccls. begins and ends with words of Torah.
Eccls.,
Ch.s 1-3:
Ch.
1: that it is said to come from Solomon, it had credibility. Kings were seen as being wise in the near
east. Power is a theme in Eccls. Shows that power is salient in kingship. He sees both the tears of the oppressed and
that the oppressor is lonely. The king
as vulnerable. Inside power at its best,
there is lonliness and vulnerability.
1:18--the one who adds knowledge adds pain. Fox: this is against God, not the sages. Fox thinks God is seen as cruel in
Eccles. 2:13--distinction that is in
Proverbs between the wise and the fool is dissolved. The wise dies just as the fool. So, 'I hated life'.
3/20/95
Wisdom
literature takes up work as a topic.
Ancient world view of work: contempt.
Davis wants to look at the right use of leisure. This is not an active concern today. A
de-valuing of leisure is modern. Also,
high value on certain kinds of work is modern. So, an inversion of classical
values. Latin word for business:
negotium means 'not leisure'. The norm
is leisure and work is that which interferes with it.
The
right use of leisure belongs to the domain of wisdom. See J. Pieper, Leisure: The Basis of Culture,
1952. Ratio is the
rational/intellectual; intelectus is the intuitive simple vision. Midieval phil saw the mind as a blend of
these. Davis: Qohelet sees them
operating together. Kant sees the
operation of the mind as being an effort of ratio. He sees ratio as being intellectual
labour. Reason acquires via work. So, unlike Qohelet, modern phil. doesn't view
them as working together in the mind.
So, knowledge is gain exclusively through work. Kant sees Romantic philosophy as not
legitimate because its knowledge is not arrived at through work/reason. Acquinus: the essence of virtue is in the
good rather than the difficult. Moral
virtue allows us to be ourselves. Virtue
enables us to follow our natural inclinations(love). Also, knowledge is also effortless. The ground of knowledge involves effort, but
the illumination therefrom does not. Same with the highest moral virtue: rests
on a ground of effort(discipline). Acquinus, in his commentary on Prov. 8:30,
discusses work and leisure. Wisdom comes out of leisure. Moderns, like Kant, assume that knowledge
comes out of effort. Is divine wisdom
accessible in this way? Qohelet: our
work should be a source of enjoyment. So, a fundamental distortion if it is
not. Hyper-valuing of work creates
dispair among those who do not value work.
Davis: a 'total work' mantality is unjust. Eccles 2:11--all labour was for not. The result of his investigations: wisdom is
lucidity.
Davis
on Fox: he ignore's Qohelet's use of intellectus (the receptive part). Davis: Qohelet uses the word 'gift' a
lot. Receptive. There
is an appreciation of that which God has made beautiful. Also, the use
of 'sweet'. It is not a common word in
hebrew. Qohelet uses it as a
sentimental sense in a relatively unsentimental work. Moreover, Ch. 11 is about not knowing and
accepting this with gratitude and joy. Davis: this is the receptive side of
mind that is fundamental to leisure.
Leisure in medieval phil. is an attitude of steeping oneself in the
whole of creation; the capacity to find our place in creation; to experience
our full humanity. So, leisure is not a
break from work; rather leisure is that which enables us to be fully human with
Being in the whole. Find one's place
within the world. Leisurenessness is a
refusal of our own being and of the reality of the creation that has been made
of us.
Fox:
Leisure can take two forms: sloth and overwork.
Sloth: the failure to invest ourselves in the world; that the world is
not worth it. Acquinus: it is a failure
to recognize the creation as created by God.
Davis: both sloth and overwork are forms of boredom; an apathy to one's inteaction
with the world. Baudelaire: work is less
boring than pleaure. This is the
opposite of Qohelet (5:18-20) who states that all joy comes from God's
gifts. Davis: a contentment and
confidence are necessary for leisure; confidence in God's gifts. So, leisure can't be defended on humanistic
grounds.
Davis:
So, can secular holidays refresh? They
are rootless. Leisure is not just taking
time off, but is festive.
How
one uses one's leisure is a theological statement. For instance, escapism.
7:16-18--don't
be too wise. Is this 'don't be
self-righteous'? Qohelet hates oppression. But he recognizes that justice is not
possible here. So, pick your
battles. 'Don't be too wicked' means
don't be niave. Accept our wickedness
and don't try to be moreso. v. 18: does
it mean that our evilness should be embraced with our righteousness? Davis:
don't be nieve about yourself.
Davis:
how is Eccles. revelatory? Fear of God language? Gifts of God language? Ellul: Qohelet (e.g. 7:24) is not a direct
revelation of the truth (so, the mysteriouness of reality). Davis: Qohelet makes few claims about
God. Much of life can't be fixed or
explained.
Ellul:
Eccles is a preface to the N.T. Can't
explain the paradox of the cross.
Davis:
look at how Qohelet uses the word 'I'?
The canon is a witness to revelation rather than revelation itself. So
Qohelet says: this is what I see. The
canon is different witnesses to the life of faith. So, contradictions and arguments going on.
3/27/95
On
Hall:
God is the primary Truth; our existance is
derivative. Buy the truth. Imp. to ask:
what is the price. His was a time just before the English Civil War when folks
who stood by the truth were martyred.
The issue was eternal life which was distinguished from temperal
life. Fidelity to truth is seen by Hall
as being necessary for it. Being and truth are convertable. This is as truth as
light. Theological truth is higher than natural, moral, or civil truth.
Truth
must be bought with pain, even death.
The greek word for martyr means 'testimony'. It has an effect on the community--not just
the person. The absolute thing becomes
clear through it. Truth is one; error is
full of dissonance.
Davis:
Platinus said that the organ ought to be fitted to the object. The adequation of the intellectus and the
res. Our thinking ought to correspond to
things as they are. Martyrdom might be
viewed as the best we can do towards this. So, sincerity is necessary but not
sufficient for martyrdom; there must be a connection between what one takes to
be truth and objective truth. But can we
know objective truth? Hall's view that
one should align himself with truth, rather than vice versa, is
old-fashioned. Stanley Fish
distinguishes a serious 'common sense' view of reality from a rhetorical view
of reality. The serious view: that self
and society are objective realities in a world of fixed eternal truths which
transcend cultural differences. It is
our job to understand these truths.
There is a truth to which we must become oriented. Fish sees
a shift to a rhetorical view: that reality is what we construe as being
real. Rorty describes the world as being
carnivalesque where truth is an artifact whose design we can alter. Davis: a third (biblical) way of
understanding the relation between perception and reality: key--revelation through the word. Language is the ambigious medium through
which God chooses to reveal Himself to us.
Unlike the serious view, it is not an investigation. Unlike the rhetorical, truth is not
alterable. The biblical way: the
relationship to God is important in realizing truth. A strong element of receptivity, so
discernment is important. One can
challenge the interpretations of the text by conscience and intuition. Me: but would this not open the door to
relativism and a source of truth in intution that is other than the word. This is not to question the existence of a
transcendent reality.
Ecclesiastes:
Qohelet
calls adequation into question; he does not question whether there is an
absolute (objective truth).
Miskotte:
Revealed
truth is important to Miskotte. The God
encountered in life is Yahweh. This god
is distinctive because he speaks.
Miskotte is writing just after Nazi Germany. He sees the O.T. as key to the revelation of
God's name. This makes it less likely
that we would domesticate God. In God's
name in the O.T., the utter transcendence of God is salient. The power of the name pushes us into the
world--Yahweh is shown in history.
Miskotte
is concerned with pastoral ministry. The
reality of Suffering, poverty, and weariness.
The latter is relevant to Qohelet.
Religiosity in spiritual weariness.
The Xn Church has underestimated this, and so has led us to
nihilism. Spiritual weariness is the
continual realization that one doesn't get to reality.
Davis:
Qohelet ends with a poem on death, as if to say: death is a part of life. It is
a winding-down.
Harold
Fische: testimony as 'memory weighted with obligation' is salient; imp. to
remember God as Creator.
Davis
on Miskotte: Weariness as the lot of the
best, a burden that is laid upon people in bearing witness to God, with the
Church has an obligation to see weariness as a sign of the nearness to God,
needs to be taken seriously. Pointing to
the need for the Church to attend to weariness, rather than repress it. Maybe this is why it is in the canon.
Joseph
Sittler, Ecology of Faith: doubt is not the goal, but is a form of suffering,
so is not to be exalted in itself even if it is a sign of the closeness of
God.
The
ending of Ecclesiastes: contrast all
that is passing away and God. So fear
God. A connection between fear and love
of God.
4/3/95
Ecclesiastes:
12:1--Old
age can be tragic in the sense that it can be too late to repent, due to a
changed frame of mind. The mental
capacity to change one's paradigm which is necessary for conversion may be
lacking. Also, one may have forgotten
that of one's youth of which one is repenting.
Schumacher:
An
economist. He was a student of
Gandhi.
On:
A Guide for the Perplexed--
He
also wrote: Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. On the ethics of economic development. Economics is not best as a discipline for
experts but ought to be a branch of Wisdom.
He objects to the materialism of the present age. Materialism is not new, but what is new is
that the opposition to it is put in terms of physical events(such as
pollution). Like the sages, he sees a
language in social phenomena. He sees a
warning in living without regard to limits. This is the intrinsic problem with
Capitalism. Proverbs: the leach cries
'never enough'. So he wants an
economics of permanence. His economic
goals: the accumulation of wealth and the state of the art technology. The best technology maximizes production and
minimizes the labor force so profit is concentrated. Production by the masses rather than mass
production. The argument of 'Small is
beautiful' is for decentralizing economic production. Production should meet the basic needs of the
people in the region. So think on a
small scale. So, large structures made
up of decentralized units--in villages rather than cities. He was influenced by Gandhi's cattage
industries. The primary need of the poor
is to work. So, development aid should be oriented to this end. Intermediate technology is important so that
it can be used by the natives and using the material resources already
there. What sort of education prevents
us from thinking about these matters. He
favors regulated private ownership, but it must be accountable to local communities. Business has social and political tasks to
perform to encourage social change. Social responsibility.
A
Guide to the Perplexed:
He
argues that the problem is moral, rather than ecological. He assumes that the world has a hier.
structure. Self-development, via
awareness, is necessary. Humility is
important--especially in philosophy.
Philosophical systems are egotistical.
Humility gives us a sense of responsibility and a realistic dependence
upon what is below us on the chain of being.
Imp: ability to choose the level of significance to which we are going
to aim our lives. Modernity has set a
low ceiling on our sense of reality. To
a Xn, the self-giving in love is what we are made for. Jesus represents
this.
Recognition
of the four levels of being is how we know the truth. Key: adequatio--what we use effects how
reality is to us. A matter of
fittingness of the object of knowledge and the capacity of the knower. When the level of knowing of the knower is
not up to a level of reality, it is not error but a distortion of reality.
Song
of Songs:
The
voice is usually a women's. A young man
and women seem to stand on equal ground in Song of Songs, even though she has
most of the speech.
In
Ch. 3, one of the rare places in the O.T. where the mother's house is
mentioned.
Song
of Songs is post-exilic, persian period.
The mother's house may mean Jerusalem . So, a wanting to bring Yahweh back to Jerusalem .
