The Tree of Life: An Exploration of Biblical Wisdom Literature
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Price: $27.00
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Manufacturer: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
EAN (European Article Number): 9780802839657
Number of Items: 1
Binding: Paperback
Author: Roland Edmund Murphy
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Edition: 3
Dewey Decimal Number: 221
Publication Date: 2002-01
Reading Level: 300
Description: A noted Bible scholar describes the search for wisdom and its development throughout Israel's history by examining the wisdom books of Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiasticus, and Wisdom of Solomon.
Customer Reviews
Review Summary: Prosaic Introduction to Biblical Wisdom
Date: 2007-04-19
Details: Roland Murphy is an acclaimed scholar of biblical wisdom literature, but this introductory book is quite plodding and uninsightful. He's overly cautious throughout, and refrains from saying anything particularly pointed or definite. A lot of the time, he'll write, "theory 'A' is intriguing and there are evidences for and against," but not really say anything one way or another. His latter chapters on Wisdom's Echoes, Wisdom Literature and Theology, Lady Wisdom are especially insipid.
But I do give him credit for his chapters on Proverbs and Job. His explanation of the ending coda on the worthy wife was helpful, though I thought he could have gone further and made the obvious connection to Jesus. (That's another thing: he makes no Christological or New Testament connections. I guess it's to make the book as ecumenical [read: bland] as possible.) His analysis of Job as a corrective to a simplistic theology of retribution that one might get from a superficial reading of Proverbs was great. His chapter on Ecclesiastes (Qoheleth) was so-so. And I fell asleep several times reading his summaries of the two Apocraphal wisdom books.
His introductory chapter was also helpful. I found his sagely advice on pg. 10-11 especially good - "A proverb presents only a narrow slice of reality; much depends upon its context...What is needed is the proper context in which they are pertinent...The saying is not an absolute; it is relative." You basically can't read a proverb in isolation and apply it uncritically to all situations; this is the mistake Job's three friends made.
But all of this does not overcome how completely uninteresting his latter chapters were. I'm quite disappointed that for such a poetic topic, Murphy wrote a sleep-inducing prosaic textbook. This is a side note, but kudos for the book cover.
out of 1 Reviews
