RELIGION 1232 / HDS 1416 – Ancient Jewish Wisdom Literature

RELIGION 1232 / HDS 1416 – Ancient Jewish Wisdom Literature

Semester: Spring
Offered: 2024
Instructor: Jon Levenson
Meeting Time: T, Th 10:30am-11:45am

A close critical reading and interpretation of works thought to derive from the Wisdom tradition of ancient Israel, principally in the Second Temple period. The workings of the world and the ways of God as they appear in works such as Proverbs, Job, Qohelet, Ben Sira, some Psalms, the Wisdom of Solomon, and Fourth Maccabees as well as narratives such as the Joseph story, Esther, and Daniel. Concludes with the early rabbinic Pirqé Avot. Egyptian and Mesopotamian antecedents and parallels briefly considered. Emphasis on matters of worldview and literary form.

Offered jointly with: Harvard Divinity School as HDS 1416

For more details please visit the Harvard Course Catalog.