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Document Details :

Title: Die Adressaten des Weisheitsbuches
Author(s): VOLGGER, David
Journal: Biblica
Volume: 82    Issue: 2   Date: 2001   
Pages: 153-177
DOI: 10.2143/BIB.82.2.3200381

Abstract :
This article examines the positions of scholars with regard to the addressees of the Book of Wisdom. It turns out that, generally speaking, neither ‘Pagans’ nor ‘Jews’ are the recipients of the Book of Wisdom. If Wisdom cannot be considered primarily a political work, the Book’s instruction to its addressees, ‘Kings and Rulers’, seems rather to point to a literary model in ancient Jewish texts from the 1st century B.C. to the 1st century A.D. Our knowledge of the primary recipients of the writings of Philo of Alexandria and Flavius Josephus confirms this. The themes of ‘conversion’ and ‘changing one’s approach’ give these texts, especially the Book of Wisdom, a very particular orientation. Appropriate addressees are above all pagans who are well-off and culturally involved, and who show an interest in Jewish traditions.

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