Fall 2010 Wisdom Course Class Notes3

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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

Song of Solomon

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.
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