Wisdom in the World

“Brian Hughes’ book offers an informed and renewed Christian reading of Proverbs 8, a key text in the history of interpretation of the Bible. He insightfully characterizes wisdom as ‘embodied know-how’ relating to individual and communal interactions. He looks insightfully at the text with a thorough philological and interpretative analysis. He also then moves beyond it, charting ever changing and dynamic interpretations, and stands in front of it with modern readings that confront the text today. This is a lively study and a refreshing approach for contemporary Christian readers.”


—Katharine Dell, professor of Old Testament literature and theology, University of Cambridge





“When I was a college student, I learned to read the Bible with an open heart and mind, expecting to learn something that would apply personally to my life. Then when I went to seminary, I learned to read the Bible with the historical and critical skills of modern scholarship. Fr. Hughes’ book helps me put together these two approaches in a new way that will benefit both my devotional life and my instruction of others.”


—David Montzingo, assistant professor of Anglican studies, spiritual formation, ministry leadership, Pacific Theological Seminary





“Brian Hughes offers a perceptive analysis of the issues surrounding the interpretation of Proverbs 8 and its reception history. He provides a close reading of the text in conversation with a range of historical critical and traditional interpreters, then draws upon the hermeneutical insights of Hans-Georg Gadamer, Paul Ricoeur, and Charles Taylor to advance a case for the text’s ability to lay claim upon future readers who inhabit the world ‘in front of the text.’ His book is a useful resource for those who are interested in recovering the theological wisdom of Proverbs 8 for the contemporary church.”


—Don Collett, professor of Old Testament, Trinity Anglican Seminary





“As recent centuries of biblical study have opened new insights into the history and literature of Proverbs 8, the theological meaning ‘in front of the text’ has been regarded as unnecessary. Drawing skillfully on Hans Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur, Brian Hughes demonstrates that theological reading is not simply something some of us add to our ‘factual’ interpretation, but the only appropriate end to our encounter with divinely revealed Scripture. Here, in the reading of Woman Wisdom’s longest speech, Hughes demonstrates clearly how ethics and faith meet; the know-how wisdom of right living in God’s world comes together with the wisdom of the only begotten Son through whom and for whom the world was made.”


—Ryan O’Dowd, academic director and senior chaplain, Chesterton House