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

by Benjamin Wold

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.

325 pages, Hardcover

Published December 22, 2022

Reviews

[Sanjuro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wold's previous books on "Instruction," a wisdom text found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, were informative. Here, Wold offers another compelling study, this time using his previous research to analyze Qumran wisdom texts and a few New Testament texts side by side, therefore bringing fresh light in both directions. There are interesting insights here, such as the argument that "forgive us our debts" in Matthew's version of the Lord's Prayer was concerned with actual, literal remission of financial debts, and the comparisons between "Instruction" and the book of James are fascinating. A major study worth attention for any scholar of either Qumran or the New Testament, especially in consideration of how they can help us to understand them in light of one another.