Table Of ContentCONFLICTED BOUNDARIES IN
WISDOM AND APOCALYPTICISM
Symposium Series
Christopher R. Matthews,
Editor
Number 35
CONFLICTED BOUNDARIES IN
WISDOM AND APOCALYPTICISM
CONFLICTED BOUNDARIES IN
WISDOM AND APOCALYPTICISM
Edited by
Benjamin G. Wright III and Lawrence M. Wills
BRILL
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2006
CONFLICTED BOUNDARIES IN
WISDOM AND APOCALYPTICISM
Copyright © 2005 by the Society of Biblical Literature
This edition published under license from the Society of Biblical Literature
by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved.No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
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be addressed in writing to the Rights and Permissions Office, Society of Biblical Literature,
825 Houston Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30329 USA.
Cover photo of Pesher Habakkuk, Qumran, courtesy of the D. Samuel and Jeane H. Gottes-
man Center for Biblical Manuscripts, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
Cover photo of the leaf of Papyrus 46 containing 2 Cor 11:33–12:9 courtesy of the Papyrol-
ogy Collection, Graduate Library, University of Michigan.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Conflicted boundaries in wisdom and apocalypticism / edited by Benjamin G. Wright, III,
and Lawrence M. Wills.
p. cm. — (Society of Biblical Literature symposium series ; no. 35)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-90-04-14667-9 (cloth binding : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 90-04-14667-9 (cloth binding : alk. paper)
1. Apocalyptic literature—History and criticism. 2. Apocryphal books—Criticism,
interpretation, etc. 3. Wisdom—Religious aspects—Judaism. 4. Wisdom—Religious
aspects—Christianity. 5. Bible. N.T.—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Wills, Lawrence M.
(Lawrence Mitchell), 1954– II. Wright, Benjamin G. (Benjamin Givens) III. Series: Sympo-
sium series (Society of Biblical Literature) ; no. 35.
BS646.C658 2005b
220'.046—dc22 2005017042
ISSN 1569-3627
Printed in The Netherlands
on acid-free paper.
CONTENTS
Abbreviations..................................................................................................vii
Introduction
Benjamin G. Wright III and Lawrence M. Wills ....................................1
PART1: ISSUESANDOUTLOOK
Wisdom and Apocalypticism in Early Judaism: Some Points
for Discussion
George W. E. Nickelsburg ..........................................................................17
Response to George Nickelsburg, “Wisdom and Apocalypticism
in Early Judaism”
Sarah J. Tanzer............................................................................................39
Response to Sarah Tanzer
George W. E. Nickelsburg ..........................................................................51
PART2: WISDOMANDAPOCALYPTICISMINEARLYJUDAISM
Wisdom, Apocalypticism, and the Pedagogical Ethos of 4QInstruction
Matthew J. Goff ..........................................................................................57
The Psalms of Solomonand the Ideology of Rule
Rodney A. Werline......................................................................................69
Putting the Puzzle Together: Some Suggestions concerning
the Social Location of the Wisdom of Ben Sira
Benjamin G. Wright III..............................................................................89
Israel at the Mercy of Demonic Powers: An Enochic Interpretation
of Postexilic Imperialism
Patrick A. Tiller........................................................................................113
The Politics of Cultural Production in Second Temple Judea:
Historical Context and Political-Religious Relations of the
Scribes Who Produced 1 Enoch,Sirach, and Daniel
Richard A. Horsley....................................................................................123
vi contents
PART3: WISDOMANDAPOCALYPTICISMINEARLYCHRISTIANITY
“Who Is Wise and Understanding among You?” (James 3:13):
An Analysis of Wisdom, Eschatology, and Apocalypticism
in the Letter of James
Patrick J. Hartin........................................................................................149
The Rich and the Poor in James: An Apocalyptic Ethic
Patrick A. Tiller........................................................................................169
City Visions, Feminine Figures, and Economic Critique:
A Sapiential Toposin the Apocalypse
Barbara R. Rossing....................................................................................181
“The Basileiaof Jesus Is on the Wood”: The Epistle of Barnabas
and the Ideology of Rule
Ellen Bradshaw Aitken..............................................................................197
Select Bibliography........................................................................................215
Contributors....................................................................................................221
Index of Ancient Literature..........................................................................223
Index of Modern Authors............................................................................237
ABBREVIATIONS
All abbreviations not in this list, including those of ancient texts, can be
found in Patrick H. Alexander et al., The SBL Handbook of Style(Peabody,
Mass.: Hendrickson, 1999).
AB Anchor Bible
ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by D. N. Freedman. 6 vols.
New York: Doubleday, 1992.
ABRL Anchor Bible Reference Library
ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und
Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung. Edited by H.
Temporini and W. Haase. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1972–.
ANTZ Arbeiten zur neutestamentlichen Theologie und Zeit-
geschichte
BETL Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium
Bib Biblica
BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wis-
senschaft
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
CBQMS Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series
CNT Commentaire de Nouveau Testament
ConBOT Coniectanea biblica: Old Testament Series
DJD Discoveries in the Judean Desert
DSD Dead Sea Discoveries
DSS Dead Sea Scrolls
DTT Dansk teologisk tidsskrift
HR History of Religions
HTR Harvard Theological Review
HTS Harvard Theological Studies
HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual
HvTSt Hervormde teologiese studies
IB Interpreter’s Bible. Edited by G. A. Buttrick et al. 12 vols.
New York:Abingdon, 1951–1957.
IDBSup Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible: Supplementary Volume.
Edited by K. Crim. Nashville: Abingdon, 1976.
Int Interpretation
-vii-
viii abbreviations
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JJS Journal of Jewish Studies
JRS Journal of Roman Studies
JSJSup Journal for the Study of Judaism Supplement Series
JSNTSup Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement
Series
JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement
Series
JSP Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha
JSPSup Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement
Series
JTS Journal of Theological Studies
LXX Septuagint
NIGTC New International Greek Testament Commentary
NovT Novum Testamentum
NovTSup Supplements to Novum Testamentum
NRSV New Revised Standard Version
NTOA Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus
NTS New Testament Studies
OTP Old Testament Pseudepigrapha.Edited by J. H. Charlesworth.
2 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1983–1985.
PEQ Palestine Exploration Quarterly
RevQ Revue de Qumran
RB Revue Biblique
RSV Revised Standard Version
SBL Society of Biblical Literature
SBLEJL Society of Biblical Literature Early Judaism and Its Literature
SBLSP Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers
SBT Studies in Biblical Theology
SC Sources chrétiennes. Paris: Cerf, 1943–.
SJLA Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity
SR Studies in Religion
STDJ Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah
SUNT Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments
SVTP Studia in Veteris Testamenti pseudepigraphica
TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Edited by
G. Kittel and G. Fredrich. Translated by G. W. Bromiley. 10
vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964–1976.
VC Vigiliae Christianae
VT Vetus Testamentum
VTSup Supplements to Vetus Testamentum
WUNT Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament
INTRODUCTION
Benjamin G. Wright III and Lawrence M. Wills
For ten years now, the Wisdom and Apocalypticism Group has tried
to bring together categories that are too often kept separate in the Society
of Biblical Literature: wisdom and apocalypticism; ancient Judaism and
early Christianity; historical studies, literary studies, and sociological
analysis; analysis on the objects of study (ancient texts) andreflection on
the subjects who study them (scholars). This Symposium volume origi-
nated from a desire to present some of the results of the work of this
Group. Our primary aim is to highlight the issues and questions con-
nected with the problem of the relationship between wisdom and
apocalypticism in early Jewish and Christian literature. The papers pre-
sented here all explore, but frequently in different ways, how these
scholarly constructions do or do not reflect what we see in these litera-
tures. Like the Group from which they derive, all are concerned in one
way or another to scrutinize the ambiguities of the division that scholars
have traditionally seen between wisdom and apocalyptic literature.
Whereas a number of older studies suggested that there were indeed
connections between wisdom and apocalypticism, they most frequently
constructed some genetic relationship between the two. So, for example,
Gerhard von Rad argued that apocalyptic literature actually had its roots
in wisdom.1 By and large, scholars have not accepted von Rad’s argu-
ments without modification, and the notion that wisdom and apocalyptic
represent fundamentally different categories, whether in literary genre or
worldview, has persisted into current scholarship. These papers, whether
explicitly or implicitly, explore and challenge that generally held view.
In 1994, a number of scholars from the fields of New Testament and
Second Temple Judaism within the SBL inaugurated the Wisdom and
Apocalypticism in Early Judaism and Early Christianity Consultation
(which later was renewed as a Group), because, after several decades of
influential studies of wisdom and apocalypticism treated separately and
some far-reaching contributions that addressed the relationship between
1. Gerhard von Rad, Wisdom in Israel(trans. J. D. Martin; London: SCM, 1972).
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