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Can the Book of Proverbs be a player in "biblical theology"?
Biblical Theology Bulletin, Spring, 2001 by Roland E. Murphy
Abstract
Proverbs does not have a role in the game as currently played. The many theological construals of the past century, although helpful, founder on the concept of thematic unity. This paper suggests a separate track: exegesis of individual passages, which may (or may not) have intertextual associations.
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The role of Proverbs in any theology would seem to be minimal. It has not been conspicuous in Jewish or Christian theology. One reason is the ambiguity of the elusive concept of "biblical theology." Does it have any validity outside of being some scholar's synthesis of biblical data relevant to theology? I have maintained that there is no biblical theology which is of itself independent, free from an implicit theological interpretation on the part of the interpreter. Ultimately the current understanding of biblical theology is misleading (Murphy 2000). The Bible has no literary unity that can be legitimately synthesized into a theology. What passes for biblical theology is really a construal by certain capable and even famous scholars. These construals do not speak with one voice; each theologian has a particular vantage point. Thus W. Eichrodt (1959/1961) selected covenant as the pivot for his construal; G. von Rad (1957/1962) took up the history of traditions; W. Schmidt (1968/1983), the first commandment; H. D. Preuss (1991-1992/ 1995-1996), election and obligation; R. Knierim (1995), righteousness, and so forth. Even if these studies are excellent syntheses, they remain partial. Their fatal drawback is that they synthesize a body of literature which does not have the unity that their syntheses presuppose. Hence a synthesis is imposed from without. The problem increases when the New Testament data are rightfully included (B. Childs 1993).
Such studies are praiseworthy, for they provide readers with new insights to the varied biblical material. But a necessary and even inevitable tilt is given so that the reader comes away with much of the interpreter's theology. There is no intention here to disdain such studies. I want to explore another way of achieving what "biblical theology" has aimed at all along, without getting bogged down in unity, themes, and key concepts. The pluriformity of biblical data seems to call for a modest but correct exegesis of biblical texts that recognizes whatever unity or disunity there may be (whether of a verse or pericope or book). While striving for a valid literal meaning, this approach tolerates more than one meaning. A primary rule is the understanding of the text, as suggested by the style of the work. Thus, in the case of Proverbs, are we dealing with a saying, an exhortation (e.g., the instruction of parent or sage), a speech (distinctive of personified Wisdom)? To this one may reply that the approach is still a construal. True, a certain construal marks any theological interpretation, but perhaps that can be at least reduced and limited. The Book of Proverbs, with its varied styles and content, offers itself to such an experiment. A sharp exegesis will reveal the particularities, but the open-endedness of wisdom transcends these limits. In a sense, a biblical theology is better achieved by recognition of how the literature is to be read, than by synthesizing theological truths.
The choice of the Book of Proverbs, an unlikely candidate, is suggested for several reasons. First, although wisdom literature in general has long been the victim of benign neglect, it did catch the attention of scholars who wrote "biblical theologies." Thus the master of salvation history, G. von Rad published his WEISHEIT, and there followed the capable studies of M. Gilbert (1979), H. D. Preuss (1987), R. Clifford (1995) and M. Fox (1997). A study of the "roots" of wisdom came at the end of a life of scholarly research that C. Westermann (1990/1995) had concentrated on torah and prophets. Second, there has been a remarkable, if perhaps fortuitous, coincidence of commentaries in English on Proverbs within a two-year span: R. Van Leeuwen (1994/1998), R. E. Murphy (1998), R. Clifford (1999), M. V. Fox (2000), and L. Perdue (2000). These works also testify to the large amount of pertinent articles and studies by C. Fontaine (1982), C. Newsom (1989), and many others that have appeared in recent years. The surge of interest in wisdom literature in general throughout the scholarly world is obvious from even a casual perusal of OLD TESTAMENT ABSTRACTS. Studies of Job, and especially Qoheleth in the last decade, have never flagged, and they usually receive much more attention than the relatively modest Book of Proverbs. Third, Proverbs presents a special challenge to anyone who raises questions about theology. It is often dismissed as being "secular," and it may be inferred, not really theological. The disparate character of the exhortations of chapters 1-9 displays a striking difference from the staccato style and the so-called secular content of the sayings in chapters 10-29. Then there is the striking personification of Wisdom as Woman, the most extensive personification in the entire Bible.
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