Qumran Wisdom and the New Testament
Exploring Early Jewish and Christian Textual Cultures

When taken together the diverse writings found at Qumran and in the New Testament demonstrate participation in a common wisdom worldview.

Benjamin Wold (Author)

9781009305068, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 December 2022

325 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.1 cm, 0.53 kg

'Wold's thoughtful and iconoclastic work begins to rethink everything we think we thought we already knew about wisdom in early Judaism and the New Testament. It's a tour de force of close reading, material philology, and big consequences for the study of ancient literature.' Garrick Allen, Senior Lecturer in New Testament Studies, University of Glasgow

In this book, Benjamin Wold builds on recent developments in the study of early Jewish wisdom literature and brings it to bear on the New Testament. This scholarship has been transformed by the discovery at Qumran of more than 900 manuscripts, including Hebrew wisdom compositions,  many of which were published in critical editions beginning in the mid-1990s. Wold systematically explores the salient themes in the Jewish wisdom worldview found in these scrolls. He also presents detailed commentaries on translations and articulates the key debates regarding Qumran wisdom literature, highlighting the significance of wisdom within the context of Jewish textual culture. Wold's treatment of themes within the early Jewish and Christian textual cultures demonstrates that wisdom transcended literary form and genre. He shows how and why the publication of these ancient texts has engendered profound shifts in the study of early Jewish wisdom, and their relevance to current controversies regarding the interpretation of specific New Testament texts.

Introduction
1. Cosmology and eschatology
2. Universalism & particularism
3. Wisdom as action
4. Poverty and humility
5. Debt remission in the Matthean Lord's prayer
6. Paul: Spirit, flesh, and the household
Conclusion
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Judaism: sacred texts [HRJS], Biblical commentaries [HRCG1], New Testaments [HRCF2], Old Testaments [HRCF1]