Wisdom and Cult ― A Critical Analysis of the Views of Cult in Wisdom Literatures of Israel and Near East

The view that wisdom in Israel embraced a tradition hostile to or at best indifferent to the cultic life of the people must be abandoned. The sages regarded the realm of cult to be an important compartment within the orders of reality and therefore deserving of sapiential scrutiny and sagacious participation.Features: ‧ A classic dissertation on wisdom and theology in ancient Israel ‧ Structural analyses of potentially cult-related didactic psalms ‧ Examination of wisdom literature in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and ancient Israel

Leo G. Perdue served as Dean and Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, TX. He is the author of Biblical Theology (Abingdon) and The Sword and the Stylus: An Introduction to Wisdom in the Age of Empires (Eerdmans).