The Cultural Life Setting of the Proverbs - Softcover

Often, readers and commentators read the Proverbs as "timeless" observations and recommendations regarding human nature, valid for all cultures and places. This blunts their cultural relevance, argues John J. Pilch. For example, proverbs regarding the "good wife" and the "quarrelsome wife" take on different meaning in a context where a married couple were rarely in close daily contact, and the predominantly masculine language used in the Proverbs points to the different cultural spheres of men and women and the different child-rearing practices employed with boys and girls. The Cultural Life Settng of the Proverbs explores and describes the cultural matrix of the Mediterranean world from which the Proverbs come and of which they are descriptive. The biblical text is paired with commentary addressing those proverbs and proverb collections with particular bearing on patterns of social roles and expectations. A list of social-science "scenarios" provides ready reference to particular aspects of the large cultural area of the ancient Mediterranean region and North Africa.

John J. Pilch teaches at Johns Hopkins University in BaItimore, Maryland. Among his numerous publications are The Cultural Dictionary of the Bible (1999) and, from Fortress Press, Social-Science Commentary on the Letters of Paul (2006), Social-Science Commentary on the Book of Acts (2008), and Social-Science Commentary on the Deutero-Pauline Epistles (2013).