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List of contents
Acknowledgements
Permissions
Introduction
1. Living Embodiments of Wisdom: The Sage as an Exemplar
2. Learning and Lifestyle: The Everyday Performance of Wisdom Teachers
3. Shared Wisdom: Ideal Ways of Living in Jewish Communities
4. Conclusions
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Elisa Uusimäki is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism at Aarhus University, Denmark. Her work focuses on the literary and cultural history of Judaism in the ancient world.
Summary
Moving away from focusing on wisdom as a literary genre, this book delves into the lived, embodied and formative dimensions of wisdom as they are delineated in Jewish sources from the Persian, Hellenistic and early Roman eras. Considering a diverse body of texts beyond later canonical boundaries, the book demonstrates that wisdom features not as an abstract quality, but as something to be performed and exercised at both the individual and community level.
The analysis specifically concentrates on notions of a ‘wise’ person, including the rise of the sage as an exemplary figure. It also looks at how ancestral figures and contemporary teachers are imagined to manifest and practice wisdom, and considers communal portraits of a wise and virtuous life. In so doing, the author demonstrates that the previous focus on wisdom as a category of literature has overshadowed significant questions related to wisdom, behaviour and social life. Jewish wisdom is also contextualized in relation to its wider ancient Mediterranean milieu, making the book valuable for biblical scholars, classicists, scholars of religion and the ancient Near East and theologians.
Foreword
Analyses the formation of wisdom in Jewish antiquity from the viewpoint of lived and embodied practices.
Additional text
Elisa Uusimäki offers a refreshing perspective on wisdom as a way of life in Second Temple Judaism. Her innovative approach brings early Jewish writings into conversation with classical Greek philosophy, making it clear how Judaism could have been perceived as a “philosophy” in the ancient world.
