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The notion that wisdom and apocalypticism represent fundamentally different and mutually exclusive categories of genre and worldview in early Jewish and Christian literature persists in current scholarship. The essays in this volume, the work of the Wisdom and Apocalypticism Group of the Society of Biblical Literature, challenge that generally held view as they explore the social locations and scholarly constructions of these literatures and discover an ancient reality of more porous categories and complex interrelationships. The volume draws on a broad range of Jewish and Christian texts, including 1 Enoch, Sirach, 4QInstruction, Psalms of Solomon, James, Revelation, and Barnabas.

Benjamin G. Wright III is Professor of Religion Studies at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He is co-editor of The Apocryphal Ezekiel (Society of Biblical Literature), editor of A Multiform Heritage: Studies on Early Judaism and Christianity in Honor of Robert A. Kraft (Scholars Press), and author of No Small Difference: Sirach’s Relationship to Its Hebrew Parent Text (Scholars Press).
Lawrence M. Wills is Talbot Professor of Biblical Studies at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Recent books include Ancient Jewish Novels: An Anthology (Oxford), The Quest of the Historical Gospel (Routledge), The Jewish Novel in the Ancient World (Cornell), and The Jew in the Court of the Foreign King: Ancient Jewish Court Legends (Augsburg Fortress).


Introduction
Benjamin G. Wright III and Lawrence M. Wills


Wisdom and Apocalypticism in Early Judaism: Some Points for Discussion
George W. E. Nickelsburg

Response to George Nickelsburg, “Wisdom and Apocalypticism in Early Judaism”
Sarah J. Tanzer

Response to Sarah Tanzer
George W. E. Nickelsburg


Wisdom, Apocalypticism, and the Pedagogical Ethos of 4QInstruction
Matthew J. Goff

The Psalms of Solomon and the Ideology of Rule
Rodney A. Werline

Putting the Puzzle Together: Some Suggestions concerning the Social Location of the Wisdom of Ben Sira
Benjamin G. Wright III

Israel at the Mercy of Demonic Powers: An Enochic Interpretation of Postexilic Imperialism
Patrick A. Tiller

The Politics of Cultural Production in Second Temple Judea: Historical Context and Political-Religious Relations of the Scribes Who Produced 1 Enoch, Sirach, and Daniel
Richard A. Horsley

“Who Is Wise and Understanding among You?” (James 3:13): An Analysis of Wisdom, Eschatology, and Apocalypticism in the Letter of James
Patrick J. Hartin

The Rich and the Poor in James: An Apocalyptic Ethic
Patrick A. Tiller

City Visions, Feminine Figures, and Economic Critique: A Sapiential Topos in the Apocalypse
Barbara R. Rossing

“The Basileia of Jesus Is on the Wood”: The Epistle of Barnabas and the Ideology of Rule
Ellen Bradshaw Aitken