Beauty, Wisdom, and Handiwork in Proverbs 31:10–31
The book of Proverbs concludes with an alphabetic acrostic that describes and praises its feminine subject (Prov 31:10-31). The poem’s praise closes with a generalized critique of beauty, its deceptiveness and short-lived nature (v. 30). What function does this critique of beauty serve in light of t...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
[2020]
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| In: |
Harvard theological review
Year: 2020, Volume: 113, Issue: 1, Pages: 45-62 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Bible. Sprichwörter 31,10-31
/ Woman
/ Beauty
/ Wisdom
/ Manual work
/ Acrostic
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| IxTheo Classification: | HB Old Testament NBE Anthropology |
| Further subjects: | B
Beauty
B Bible. Sprichwörter 31,10-31 B Wisdom B Description B Proverbs B alphabetic acrostic |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | The book of Proverbs concludes with an alphabetic acrostic that describes and praises its feminine subject (Prov 31:10-31). The poem’s praise closes with a generalized critique of beauty, its deceptiveness and short-lived nature (v. 30). What function does this critique of beauty serve in light of the praise of the woman and her deeds? How do the poem and, specifically, this critique of beauty function in the broader organization of the book of Proverbs? This study argues that the poem rejects innate beauty in favor of acquired wisdom, a message that can be found elsewhere in Proverbs. The poem rejects beauty through an appeal to a rhetorical device—the “totalizing description”—which is used elsewhere to argue for a subject’s beauty or perfection. Through the structure of the alphabetic acrostic, the poem carefully embeds its message of willed action and acquired wisdom; using a description of the woman’s successive deeds, the poem shows how each deed leads to the enduring success of the woman’s family, her community, and the subsequent generation. |
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| ISSN: | 1475-4517 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Harvard theological review
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0017816019000348 |