The “Odyssey” of the Notion of Wisdom in Ancient Thought and Some Peculiarities of the Concepts of Wisdom in the Bible

Abstract

The concept of wisdom in Ancient Greece had its own “Odyssey.” Initially, wisdom had to do with artistry, mastery, perfection and the effectiveness of its master. But it gradually begins to be thought through the duality of human and divine
wisdom. Greek philosophy – contrary to popular masses and “natural religion” – comes to the conclusion about the remoteness of the gods, their “loftiness” and even in some sense transcendence (Plato, Epicurus). As a result, classical Antiquity and Hellenism consider reason to be the best tool for deciphering the divine craft and organizing the world. However, in the future, “perfectionism” and “sci entific” in the understanding of wisdom under the influence of the Biblical narrative give way to the understanding of wisdom as a unity of knowledge of “exter nal” and “internal”, moral taste and existential attitude. In the second section of the article, peculiarities of the Biblical concept and per ception of wisdom and its dominants are revealed; also ways of acquiring knowl edge are considered. Wisdom lies at the basis of the universe, which is created by the Lord in accordance with it and through it. Wisdom is with God, but it de scends into the earthly world, from the very beginning being the connecting link between the Most High, the universe and man. Its origin is in the worship of God, expressed primarily in ethical aspects, striving for righteousness and jus tice. Biblical wisdom, as a rule, is not speculative, but dynamic – it is acquired in the course of the religious and social activity of the sage and is realized par excellence in this very activity. Realizing the uniqueness of a particular person, the Biblical sages “measure” its place in the historical process not only with the “things” of the earthly world (as Protagoras and Aristotle do, for example), but also with the eternal essences of the higher world. Using the connotation of the term ʻôlām“eternity as the world”, the sage Ecclesiastes (3:10‒11) expresses the idea of the comprehension of all being by the mind of asubject cognizing “the world” (hā-‛ōlām); on the other hand, a man comprehending the uni verse, has hope of actualizing God’s “eternity” ( hā-‛ōlām) “put” in his mind, in the course of the endless process of cognizing the constantly changing world.