The Psalms and Wisdom Literature (BA3400C)

Content

This unit examines the Psalms and wisdom writings of the Old Testament. Attention will be given to the book of Psalms as a whole as well as individual psalms and their literary forms and theology. Students will also examine selected wisdom texts and develop a familiarity with the features and limitations of wisdom as a biblical genre. The unit will explore the enduring appeal of these biblical writings to contemporary society and the church.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

Two Biblical Studies units at second level

Pedagogy

Each three hours consists of two hours of interactive lectures and one hour of tutorial (in each case, presented in modes appropriate for face-to-face or online learning contexts).

Indicative Bibliography

• Bergsma, John Sietze, and Brant James Pitre. A Catholic Introduction to the Bible. San Francisco: Ignatius, 2018.
• Brown, William P., ed. The Oxford Handbook of the Psalms. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
• Calduch Benages, Nuria, ed. Wisdom for Life: Essays Offered to Honor Prof. Maurice Gilbert, SJ on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday. BZAW 445. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2014.
• Collins, John J., Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid and Donald Senior, eds. The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. London: T&T Clark, Bloomsbury, 2022.
• Dell, Katharine J., Suzanna R. Millar, and Arthur Jan Keefer, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Wisdom Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.
• Dell, Katharine J. The Solomonic Corpus of “Wisdom” and Its Influence. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.
• Kynes, Will, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Wisdom and the Bible. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021.
• Kynes, Will. An Obituary for “Wisdom Literature”: The Birth, Death, and Intertextual Reintegration of a Biblical Corpus. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
• Perdue, Leo G. The Sword and the Stylus: An Introduction to Wisdom in the Age of Empires. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.
• von Rad, Gerhard. Wisdom in Israel. Translated by James D. Martin. London: SCM Press, 1972.

Assessment