The Wisdom of the Aramaic Book of Ahiqar : Unravelling a Discourse of Uncertainty and Distress /

The Wisdom of the Aramaic Book of Ahiqar : Unravelling a Discourse of Uncertainty and Distress /

This book offers fresh readings of the Aramaic book of Ahiqar, an oft underappreciated ancient wisdom text. In undertaking a comprehensive literary analysis, incorporating both the drama and the sayings together, Bledsoe shows that Ahiqar's didactic impulse is founded on a sense of uncertainty...

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Main Author: Bledsoe, Seth (Author)

Format: eBook

Language: English

Published: Leiden; Boston : BRILL, 2022.

Series: Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism ; 199.

Subjects:

Ahikar (Folktale)
Wisdom literature > Comparative studies.

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Call Number: PJ5209.A43

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Table of Contents:
  • Acknowledgments
  • Abbreviations
  • Introduction
  • 1 Identifying the Gaps in Ahiqar Scholarship
  • 2 Responding to the Gaps in Ahiqar Scholarship
  • 3 Outline of This Study
  • 1 Locating Ahiqar
  • Materiality, Language and Intertextuality
  • 1.1 Ahiqar In Situ: Material Aspects
  • 1.2 Ahiqar In Lingua: Linguistic and Scribal Aspects
  • 1.3 Ahiqar In Litteris: Legacy, Literary Milieu, and Intertextuality
  • 1.4 Conclusion: The Elephantine Instruction of Ahiqar
  • 2 Unraveling Ahiqar
  • Narratology and Discourse in the Story of Ahiqar
  • 2.1 Plot Tensions & Resolutions: Unraveling the Structural Threads of the Story
  • 2.2 Actants, Voices, and the Narrator/Audience Complexity: A Narratological Reading of Ahiqar
  • 2.3 Summary of Literary Analysis of Narrative
  • 2.4 Finishing the Story: The Missing End and the Later Witnesses
  • 3 Delineating Ahiqar
  • Structure and Style in the Sayings of Ahiqar
  • 3.1 Sayings-Types, Structures, and Stylistic Devices
  • 3.2 Coherence, Context, and Compositional Units: A Theory of Reading and Meaning
  • 3.3 Summary of Sayings
  • 4 Cultivating an Ethic of Caution
  • Practical Instruction and the Dangers of Speech
  • 4.1 The Synchrony of Proper Speech
  • 4.2 Cultivating a Cautious Attitude
  • 4.3 The Pragmatic Value of Contentment and Humility
  • 4.4 Conclusion
  • 5 Wisdom from Below
  • Financial Instruction and Social Status
  • 5.1 Loans and Other Financial Matters
  • 5.2 Poverty and Wealth
  • 5.3 Labor and Servitude
  • 5.4 Wisdom from Below: Synthesis, Story, and Rhetorical Effect
  • 6 Constructing and Contesting Social Domains
  • The Familial Discourse of Loyalty and Reciprocity
  • 6.1 The Double-Sided Domains of Family and Friendship
  • 6.2 The Estranged Brother and the Familial Foreigner
  • 6.3 Authority & Hierarchy: A Competition for Favor
  • 6.4 Conclusion: Constructing and Contesting "Ahiqar" at Elephantine
  • 7 Many Are the Stars
  • Humanity, the Gods and Speculative Wisdom
  • 7.1 Humanity
  • 7.2 The Gods
  • 7.3 At the Intersection of Humanity and the Gods: The King in Ahiqar
  • 7.4 Conclusion
  • Conclusion
  • Bibliography
  • Index.