Fall 2010 Wisdom Course Class Notes3

November 8, 2010

Estes, "Proverbs"

• p. 219: definition and properties of proverbs.

• Wisdom divides into "spaiental, moral, relgious" dimension in religious culture of Judaism.

• Judaic belief in natural order. p. 222

• Values/themes expressed in Proverbs

• Cheerfulness --
• Contentment -- in marriage, with God
• Decisions -- interesting connection decision making chapter in Hall
• Diligence -- 20:5 -- compares well with Buddhism, Stoics, Epicureans, q. 235, "The diligent person..."
• Friendship -- 237: note integration of vertical and horizontal, 237.
• Generosity -- consider some functions of generosity: signalling commitment to group, lack of greed, reciprocity: "in 21:13: "If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered."
• Humility --
• Kindness --
• Parenting -- note emphasis on training
• Purity -- Hebrew "heart" (like gen in Chinese Philosophy) - image/source of goodness of motivation
• Righteousness --
• Truthfulness --

• Note the connection and contrast of these themes with some of the other traditions we have looked at.

Proverbs

• Divides, rhetorically at Book 10. First 10 books seem like instruction (Estes). Note misogyny. Women are temptresses.

• Look at Proverb form: from Estes: contrast, enigmatic, compresses, pith, uses analogy, understood to be generalizations.

• analogies and similes: 26:7ff (also literary convention in Illiad)

• Themes

• Wise lead orderly lives in fear of the Lord and they proper because of it.
• Attitude of the wise is consistent and cheerful, even in the face of poverty. 15:15-17, also 19:1

• Proverbs offer integration of behavioral norms we should hold ourselves to with a vertical and transcendent moral order.

• Could we write proverbs for our time?

November 10, 2010

Ecclesiastes

• major theme: human existence is full of vanity and "striving after the wind". "nothing new under the sun" -- strong sense of man's insignificance

• 2 -- Speaker built great wealth and works. still didn't help.

• 2:24 -- Crucial argument -- follow

• 3 -- Positive Theory -- "For everything there is a season"

• 3 -- God gave us the idea of eternity, but also limits our knowledge. -- also resignation at futility 3:19-23

• 4 -- Beginning of proverbial advice. Review for substance and tone.

Job

• Review story: Job, God, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, Elihu -- importance of devil's wager.
• Reminder of Problem of Evil --

• What is the lesson of Job?

• 1. Your best effort to lead a justified and upright life might not save you from profound suffering. AND
• 2. You can't blame God for it, but you don't have to blame yourself either.

• Important that God condemns the friends' approach and supports Job's

• View of Wisdom

• Key lesson of wisdom is to understand limits of understanding
• We go wrong to think that God's care for us implies that allowing suffering is unjust. Presumes we understand all the competing goals of creation. (note similarity and difference from Greeks -- you have a version of Socratic humility, but none of the aspiration toward complete knowledge.
• Wisdom involves being prepared for one's life to become Job-like.
• Fate / God

November 15, 2010

Basics on Islam

Use the Islam Wiki page or other reference site to get some particulars on the following:

• Conception of God in Islam
• Revelation in the Koran
• Attitudes toward Trinity and status of Jesus.
• Judgement, Predestination, and Free will.
• Five Pillars

1. Recognition of God (Shahadah [1])
2. Prayer (Salah)
3. Fasting during Ramadan (Sawm)
4. Alms giving (Zakat)
5. Pilgrimage (Hajj)

Frager, Ch 6 Mind of Islam

• Dualist psychology -- mind and soul(ruh) -- soul connected with heart -- ego (nafs) is a problem for realizing spritual nature.
• Human Nature - ruh insani - essentially spiritual.
• Stations of humanity corrrespond to different levels of "nafs" (note sagehood model, p. 101).
• Rumi -- 13th Century Islamic sage --
• p. 105 -- comment on prayer -- note connection with body position.

• Story of the Saint and the Scholar -- example of model of sagehood in Islam.
• p. 107: Sufi Poet Hafiz on desire.

Sufism -- Mysticism in Islam

• Term -- associated with purity, rough wool, "first row" deveotees of Mohammed,
• Sufis practice simple life.
• Ibn Arabi -- great Sufi scholar -- four levels: note depth of claims -- q. wisdom as insight of the soul.
• Process of sufi devotion: Devotion, Service, remembrance (of the name of God), meditation and contemplation.
• Note proverbs on p. 83.
• Follow the psychology of the Nafs on p. 84 - 88.
• "Adab" -- right action.