So let's just see what I can rattle off about wisdom
within that tradition, wisdom is THE theme, and maybe the theme that is most underrated by general Christian thought
(intentionally bombastic)
This is why later texts will read wisdom into the creation
This is wrong
They were never supposed to eat of the tree, but that doesn't mean they weren't supposed to become wise; the first test is between *sources* of wisdom
Hence all the vision language in the sermon on the mount, and every other damn place
the evil *is* the blind
when you notice this you realize the NT is *obsessed* with wisdom
It's the question they can't stop picking at, their theodicy
When you assume the world is ordered, all of the chaos suddenly leaps out as shocking and hard to explain
Hence, you know, the entire Old Testament
I don't understand this book the way I want to
But the Job poet/God bite the bullet *hard* here, which is what makes it a masterpiece: it engages the questions head-on, and passes out the other side; it doesn't dodge
The sea is the oldest image of chaos, and Genesis already is messing with that idea: God makes it and calls it good
This has deep implications for how we think about Satan but damned if I know what they are
certainly God likes a wrestle
When I feel wisdom, I feel it in my gut and loins and it feels pissed off and ready to wreck someone
It's also productive and good and loving, but those aren't contradictions
Genesis is often read as being a contradiction to that, but it seems to me that it's more a re-telling
He really likes a fight
And that fight isn't a contradiction to his act of delighted wisdom, it is synonymous with it
Job points at that puzzle but I think it's most clearly resolved in the NT
the hell is God doing; evil runs uncontrolled and triumphs!
the cross shows that God was playing a level deeper
the cross is the "wisdom" of God, the move within the deeper game God perceives)
I'm still wrestling through what chaos means--to what extent it's just order that is beyond us and to what extent it's really in rebellion to God and his wisdom
But God made the thing and made it good! he made leviathan!
won't God get bored w/o a wrestle?
so *something's* gotta give, some stuff really is unordered
Seems like the confidence of Scripture is that even this disorder is part of a larger, well-ordered story/battle
the order of the world changes, and the rulers over it change too
Scripture/wisdom views it as percolating downwards in abstraction, from the spiritual to the physical
the world is fractal because God made it and it has his fingerprints
And so wisdom changes from age to age
which, sure, is part of it, but not sinning is for babies, wisdom is for kings
see a wise person? be nice, they'll be king some day
they probably already are and are hiding it
you know that story of him judging the two prostitutes? the whole divide the baby thing? sooo much more than a cute story
first thing to note is that wisdom is *not* just following a set of rules; it's cunning
The story is about choosing lady wisdom/life
it's about discerning foolishness and wisdom: does this bring life? does this bring death?
those are bigger categories than existence, you can feel them in your gut
You can do this
It is possible to test someone, to discern what kind of person they are, if they'll bring life or death
it takes real insight and wisdom though
what someone does in one situation comes from the same place as what they do in every other situation
Out of the heart the mouth speaks
but understanding that deeper order is not simple
And they read themselves that way
What's cool about it is that it does so by bringing another wisdom tradition to the table--riddles, for example, were a big thing in Old English culture
Beowulf was what this tweet evoked in me
Beowulf rides to meet the dragon (the Leviathan! the serpent! death to his flesh and bone!) knowing he will die
Chaos and death is real
For Newton, the bible, the heavens, and an apple falling all partook of the same order
The thought is terrifying, honestly; someone who's well-integrated, knows themselves, understands the world, and is evil
They almost certainly exist and are almost certainly be too wise to let me know they're there
Even Jesus when he tells his people to be wise says to be "cunning as serpents"--learn from Satan, be cunning like him
Satan assumes scarcity whereas God assumes abundance
The first line someone says is always important, and notice Satan's
God's first line is "Let there be light", something out of nothing; Satan tries to make nothing out of something
This makes it so that Jesus seems offensive and foolish to us
Wisdom is literally sexy, is strong and powerful and swaggering and life-giving and right
Eve *looks* at and *desires* the fruit; that language will be sexual later on
What you turn your eye toward and desire is the main question of wisdom; wisdom literature is mostly designed to *change what you find beautiful*