Abstract:
It is shown that the wisdom of the sages represented in the Book of
Proverbs pushes at the limits of wisdom’s rational basis in such a
way as to question its own possibilities. The assumption that the
Book of Proverbs represents the affirming side of wisdom whereas
the Books of Ecclesiastes and Job represent its critical counter-pole
is queried. It is argued that the theological stance of the anthology
of Proverbs is based on a default affirmative system with a critical
counter-position grafted onto it. Conversely, in Ecclesiastes and Job
the critical perspective is the main stance, while they nevertheless
proceed from the same affirmative basis they find problematical.
This basic tenet of biblical wisdom is brought to bear on Walter
Brueggemann’s thesis that a biblically informed theology must be
“bipolar.”
