Resuscitating »Wisdom Literature«

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Abstract

This essay offers a novel framework for the definition of biblical wisdom as a genre by suggesting self-presentation as a key to understanding the genre’s dynamics. By framing the material as sapiential, the authors/editors provide a hermeneutical tool for readers, based on a set of shared conventions. Forming the scarlet thread of the genre, this »self-identification« is »thickened« by a set of fluid features – many of which are related to the labile conventions associated with the wise. This spinal cord links later works to the tradition even when expectations change.