Israel's Wisdom Literature: A Liberation-Critical Reading

by Dianne Bergant

Dianne Bergant offers a fresh approach to all the wisdom books of the Hebrew Bible and the Greek Job, selected psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon, and Sirach. She concentrates on the final canonical from of each book and takes the "integrity of creation" as the basic interpretive perspective. This means, among other things, that the idea of the unity of humankind-indeed, the unity of all living things-lies at the heart of the approach. Israel's Wisdom Literature is part of a four-volume set, "A Liberation-Critical Reading of the Old Testament," edited by Alice L. Laffey. The Pentateuch (1988) is now available and volumes on Deuternomic history and the prophets will be forthcoming.

208 pages, Paperback

First published June 28, 1997

About the author

Sr. Dianne Bergant, CSA, PhD

Reviews

[Michael Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bergant provides a liberationist reading of Job, selected Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon, and Sirach. For each book she provides a summary of its wisdom teaching, the rhetorical function of the text, her critique of it from a liberationist perspective, and how we can integrate the wisdom teaching - as critiqued - into our lives.

Her look at the rhetorical function of the texts was the strongest part of the work. I found her insights helpful, especially with regard to Proverbs. The liberationist reading, what she calls “Unmasking the Powers,” was the weakest, but was thought provoking and made me examine my cultural assumptions at times.

Overall, I liked the book far more than I thought I would.