Law and Wisdom from Ben Sira to Paul (1985 Schnabel), book
Law and wisdom from Ben Sira to Paul: A Tradition Historical Enquiry into the Relation of Law, Wisdom, and Ethics (1985) is a book by Eckhard J Schnabel.
Abstract
A revised version of the dissertation for his PhD from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, Schnabel undertook this study because there had been no major monograph written on the correlation of law and wisdom. The first three chapters are devoted to Second Temple Jewish texts, beginning from Ben Sira. Schnabel comes to the conclusion that all Jewish texts post-Ben Sira, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and Alexandrian Jewish writings, made the identification or correlation between the Mosaic Law and wisdom, if not explicitly at least implicitly. The final section is devoted to Paul and the question as to whether this correlation had any effect on Paul’s theology or Christology. Paul, a Pharisee born from a Pharisee, would have been well acquainted with the identification of wisdom and law, and, in many cases, it seems that Paul assumes this correlation in his discussions concerning the Mosaic Torah. But, in one important instance Paul rejects this identification. Whereas Paul’s Christology is firmly wisdom-based, Christ is the wisdom of God, Paul never makes an identification between Christ and the Law. While the Mosaic Law is still valid in the community as a binding source for the Pauline Christian ethic, all soteriological aspects of the Law have been removed and given to Christ, as God’s wisdom. The Christian, having received freely given righteousness, now is able to be obedient to God’s revealed will, via, in part, the Mosaic Torah. Schnabel’s book is important in that it is one of the first works to extensively investigate the important relationship between law and wisdom in Second Temple Judaism. – Jason Zurawski, University of Michigan
Editions and translations
Published in Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 1985.
Table of contents
Chapter One: Ben Sira’s Identification of Wisdom and Law
- 1. Introductory Survey
- 2. Ben Sira’s Concept of Wisdom
- 3. Ben Sira’s Concept of Law and the Commandments
- 4. Ben Sira’s Identification of Law and Wisdom
Chapter Two: Wisdom and Law in the Intertestamental Literature
- 5. Earlier Jewish Writings from Palestine
- 5.1. Baruch
- 5.2. The Ethiopic Book of Enoch
- 5.3. The Psalms of Solomon
- 6. Earlier Jewish Writings from Alexandria
- 6.1. The Letter of Artisteas
- 6.2. The Third Sibylline Oracle
- 6.3. The Wisdom of Solomon
- 7. Later Jewish Writings from the First Century A.D.
- 7.1. The Fourth Book of Maccabees
- 7.2. The Fourth Book of Ezra
- 7.3. The Apocalypse of Baruch
- 8. Conclusion
Chapter Three: Law and Wisdom in the Dead Sea Scrolls
- 9. Introduction
- 10. Law and Commandments: The Rule of Life
- 11. Wisdom: Universal-Systematic Blueprint from Creation and Salvation
- 12. Law and Wisdom
Chapter Four: Wisdom and Law in Pauline Christology and Ethics
- 13. Introduction
- 14. Christ and Wisdom
- 15. Christ and the Law
- 16. The Christian Way of Life
Chapter Five: Conclusions