The Concept of ignorance in the book of Wisdom
its context, possible sources and influences
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46859/PUCRio.Acad.ReBiblica.2596-2922.2025v6n12a07Keywords:
Book of Wisdom, Ignorance, Idolatry, Origin of WickednessAbstract
The Book of Wisdom uses the concept of ignorance, in its digression on idolatry (Wis 13–15). Although it may go unnoticed, the use of this concept is fundamental to explaining the origins of idolatry, as well as to characterizing idolaters and the wicked according to the author. Contrary to what might appear from a superficial reading, ignorance is not a simple lack of knowledge, but it consists of a state of moral evil, against which the Book of Wisdom seeks to warn the reader. The Book of Wisdom is focused on the praise and the supplication for divine wisdom (Wis 7–9) and it aims to protect the Jews of Alexandria from what the author considers to be the fruits of ignorance: rationalist religiosity, lack of trust in God, syncretism and idolatry. The idea of ignorance is developed from a synthesis between the concepts of ignorance present in the Septuagint and in Hellenistic philosophy. The conception of ignorance is analogous to certain fundamental concepts of the book, such as “wickedness” and “vaine opinion”, “error”. The notion of ignorance, as used by the author, is useful for investigating the cultural and religious environment of the Book of Wisdom, its sources, as well as the possible influence of this work on the New Testament.
References
AMMANN, Sonja. Götter für die Toren. Die Verbindung von Götterpolemik und Weisheit im Alten Testament. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015. (BZAW, 466).
BARCLAY, John M.G. Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora. From Alexander to Trajan (323 BCE 117 CE). Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1996.
BAUER, Walter et al. (Orgs.). A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2003.
BERTHELOT, Kathell. Regards juifs alexandrins sur les religions. Revue de l’histoire des religions, v. 4, p. 635-660, 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/rhr.8825. Acesso em: 15 jan. 2021.
BIANCHI, Ugo, La religione greca. Torino: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese, 1975.
CERFAUX, Lucien. Agnoia (Agnosia). In: KLAUSER, Theodor et al. (Orgs.). Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum. Sachwörterbuch zur Auseinandersetzung des Christentums mit der antiken Welt. Band 1. Stuttgart: Hiersemann Verlags, 1950. p. 186-188.
CLARK, Douglas K. Signs in Wisdom and John. Catholic Biblical Quarterly, v. 45, p. 201-209, 1983. Disponível em: <https://www.jstor.org/stable/43719004>. Acesso em: 25 jun. 2025.
DENIS, Albert-Marie. Introduction aux pseudépigraphes grecs d’Ancien Testament. Leiden: Brill, 1970. (SVTP, 1).
DUPONT, Jacques. Gnosis. La connaissance religieuse dans les epitres de saint Paul. Louvain: Nauwelaerts, 19602. (Universitas Catholica Lovaniensis 2, 40).
DUPONT-SOMMER, André, Les écrits esséniens découverts près de la Mer Morte. Deuxième édition revue et augmentée. Paris: Payot 1962. (Bibliothèque historique).
GAVENTA, Beverly R. The Rhetoric of Death in the Wisdom of Solomon and the Letters of Paul. In: HOGLUND, Kenneth G. (Org.). The Listening Heart. Essays in Wisdom and Psalms in Honor of Roland E. Murphy, O. Carm. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1987. p. 135-139. (JSOTSup, 58).
GILBERT, Maurice. La critique des dieux dans le Livre de la Sagesse (Sg 13-15). Roma: Biblical Institute Press, 1973. (AnBib, 53).
GILBERT, Maurice. La Sagesse de Salomon et l’hellénisme. In: GILBERT, Maurice. La Sagesse de Salomon. Recueil d’études (Wisdom of Solomon. Collected Essays). Roma: G&B Press, 2011. p. 27-44. (AnBib, 189).
GOODRICK, Alfred T. S. The Book of Wisdom. London: Rivingtons, 1913. (OCBC).
HOLZHAUSEN, Jens. Corpus Hermeticum. In: ALLISON, Dale C. et al. (Orgs.). Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2012. p. 820-821. v. 5.
HORBURY, William; NOY, David. Jewish Inscriptions of Graeco-Roman Egypt (= JIGRE). With an index of the Jewish inscriptions of Egypt and Cyrenaica. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press 1992.
IOVINO, Paolo. «Dio unico e sapiente» nella lettera ai Romani. Relazioni com il libro della Sapienza? In: BELLIA, Giuseppe; PASSARO, Angelo (Org.). Il libro della Sapienza. Tradizione, redazione, teologia. Roma: Città Nuova Editrice, 2004. p. 301-324. (Studia biblica, 1).
KASHER, Aryeh. The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1985. (TSAJ, 7).
KEYSER, Paul-Gerhard. Sapientia Salomonis und Paulus. Eine Analyse der Sapientia Salomonis und ein Vergleich ihrer theologischen und anthropologischen Probleme mit denen des Paulus im Römerbrief. Halle: [s.n.], 1971.
KITTEL, Gerhard et al. (Orgs.). Grande lessico del Nuovo Testamento. Brescia: Paideia, 1965.
LARCHER, Chrysostome. Études sur le livre de la Sagesse. Paris: Gabalda, 1969. (Études bibliques).
MCLACHLAN, Herbert. St. Luke. The man and his work. Manchester: The Manchester University Press, 1920. (Theological series, 3).
MAZZINGHI, Luca. Libro della Sapienza. Introduzione – Traduzione – Commento. G&BPress: Roma 2020. (AnBib, 13).
MAZZINGHI, Luca. Gli “empi” di Sap 2 e la polemica intragiudaica ad Alessandria. In: CRIMELLA, M. et al (Orgs.). Extra ironiam nulla salus. Studi in onore di Roberto Vignolo nel suo LXX compleanno. Milano: Glossa, 2016. p. 101-126.
NIEHOFF, Maren R. Jewish Exegesis and Homeric Scholarship in Alexandria. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
PALMER, Carmen. Philo’s Hellenistic-Jewish Approach in On the Decalogue and On the Contemplative Life: Blending Wisdom of Solomon’s Critique against Idols with a Hellenistic Notion of Moderation. Journal of Ancient Judaism, v. 13, p. 186–201, 2022.
PANTELIA, Maria C. (Org.). Thesaurus Linguae Graecae® Digital Library. Irvine: University of California. Disponível em: <http://www.tlg.uci.edu>. Acesso em: mai. 2025.
PHILONENKO, Marc. Les interpolations chrétiennes des Testaments des Douze Patriarches et les manuscrits de Qoumrân. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1960. (Cahiers de la Revue d’Histoire et de Philosophie Religieuses, 35).
SCARPAT, Giuseppe. Libro della Sapienza. Testo, traduzione e commento. Volume terzo. Brescia: Paideia, 1999. (Biblica, 6).
SIEGERT, Folker. Early Jewish Interpretation in a Hellenistic Style. In: SÆBØ, Magne (Org.). Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament: The History of Its Interpretation. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1996, p. 191-196. Volume 1: From the Beginning to the Middle Ages (Until 1300).
SIQUEIRA, Fábio da Silveria. A Contemplação do Criador na grandeza e beleza das Criaturas: Sb 13,5 no contexto da Laudato Si’ 12. Revista Pesquisas em Teologia, v. 2, n. 4, p. 160-179, 2019. DOI: 10.46859/PUCRio.Acad.PqTeo.2595-9409.2019v2n4p160. Acesso em: 20 dez. 2025.
SMITH, Daniel A. The “assumption” of the righteous dead in the Wisdom of Solomon and the Sayings Gospel Q. Studies in Religion, v. 29, p. 287-299, 2000.
STRAIT, Drew J. The Wisdom of Solomon, Ruler Cults, and Paul’s Polemic against Idols in the Areopagus Speech. Journal of Biblical Literature, v. 136, p. 609-632, 2017.
TCHERIKOVER, Victor A. Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publications Society of America, 1959.
Thesaurus linguae latinae. Index, Editus auctoritate et consilio Academiarum quinque Germanicarum Berolenensis Gottingensis Lipsiensis Monacensis Vindobonensis, Teubner, Leipzig 19905. Disponível em: <http://publikationen.badw.de/de/thesaurus/lemmata>. Acesso em: abr. 2025.
TRIPOLITIS, Antonia. Religions of the Hellenistic-Roman Age. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002.
DE TROYER, Kristin. An Exploration of the Wisdom of Solomon as the Missing Link Between Isaiah and Matthew. In: VAN DER MEER, Michaël N. (Org.). Isaiah in Context. Studies in Honour of Arie van der Kooji on the Occasion of His Sixty-fifth Birthday. Leiden: Brill 2010. p. 215-227. (VTSup, 138).
WALTER, Nikolaus. Sapientia Salomonis und Paulus: Bericht über eine Hallenser Dissertation von Paul-Gerhard Keyser aus dem Jahre 1971. In: HÜBNER, H. (Org.). Die Weisheit Salomos im Horizont Biblischer Theologie. Neukirchen – Vluyn: Neukirchener 1993. p. 83-108. (BthSt, 22).
WASSERMANN, Emma. Philosophical cosmology and religious polemic: The “worship of creation” in the writings of Philo of Alexandria and the Wisdom of Solomon. Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, v. 31, p. 6-28, 2021.
WRIGHT, Robert B. The Psalms of Solomon. A Critical Edition of the Greek Text. London: T&T Clark, 2007. (JCTC, 1).
WRIGHT III, Benjamin G. The Letter of Aristeas. ‘Aristeas to Philocrates’ or ‘On the Translation of the Law of the Jews’. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015. (CEJL).
