Metaphors in the Wisdom Literature of the Hebrew Bible and Contemporary Art

religions Article Metaphors in the Wisdom Literature of the Hebrew Bible and Contemporary Art Bálint Károly Zabán Kisszántó Ungarische Reformierte Kirche, No. 116, Jud. Bihor, 417077 Santaul Mic, Romania; or ; Tel.: +44-786-763-4279; +40-742-224-108 Academic Editors: Katharine J. Dell and Arthur J. Keefer Received: 30 April 2016; Accepted: 25 July 2016; Published: 29 August 2016 Abstract: Biblical wisdom literature is a treasure-trove of powerful metaphors. This article presents a sample of these metaphors and their significant impact on contemporary artwork. The impact is characterized by both appropriation and adaptation, similitude and analogy, respectively. The highlighted metaphors are not merely catalogued but, more or less, analyzed with regard to relevant contemporary artwork. This augments the importance of contemporary biblical literacy analysis and uses it as one of the tools by which it is possible to gauge the impact and interaction, in this case, of the metaphor-world of the wisdom tradition on contemporary art. More importantly, however, this study underscores the relevance of these metaphors for biblical exegesis, hermeneutics, and theology. The analysis of the reception of these metaphors in contemporary artworks undergirds and informs the process of interpretation. The reception of these metaphors in their contemporary art contexts is best understood within the framework of imagery and imagistic language. Metaphor, as a subset of imagery and imagistic language, is foundational for the examined wisdom books, Proverbs, Job, and Qoheleth, and for the relevant contemporary artwork, alike. Moreover, metaphor also constitutes a bridge between the ancient and contemporary context. With this backdrop in mind, this article argues for the necessity of exploring the connections between these wisdom books, metaphor studies, and contemporary artwork. Keywords: metaphor; wisdom; contemporary; art; image; imagery; literature; theology 1. Introduction The purpose of the current article is to discover some of the ways in which the metaphors of the wisdom literature of the Hebrew Bible have been plied in contemporary art. The three building blocks of the treatment are summarily alluded to here. First, the elaboration of the purpose, per se, is prefaced by a brief presentation of the history of scholarship pertaining to the hermeneutics of the wisdom literature. As it is shown, the history of scholarship, in its hermeneutical aims, tends to emphasize the presence and relevance of metaphors within the wisdom literature. This section stresses the necessity of exploring the metaphor-world of the wisdom literature in convergence with other topics or textual, linguistic, semantic, pragmatic, and theological interests, etc. This necessity also pertains to the impact on contemporary biblical literacy. Second, the interaction of the metaphor-world of the wisdom literature and contemporary art is investigated in a separate section. In terms of metaphors considered, the investigation focuses chiefly on three wisdom books found in the Hebrew Bible, namely the book of Proverbs, Job, and Qoheleth. Third, the article concludes with a brief analysis of the consequences of the interaction of metaphors within the wisdom literature and contemporary art. Religions 2016, 7, 106; doi:10.3390/rel7090106 www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Religions 2016, 7, 106 2 of 14 History of Wisdom Scholarship and Metaphors Quid est veritas? The question still persists with regard to a whole range of subject matter, some of which include the definition of wisdom in the context of the Hebrew Bible, the definition of metaphors in general, and in biblical scholarship, and, not in the least, the definition of contemporary art. Even if the definitive truth cannot be formulated with regard to the triumvirate of the aforementioned items, verifiable truth claims can certainly be pronounced. For quite a long period, the wisdom literature of the Hebrew Bible was overshadowed by an understandably intense preoccupation with the law and the prophetic corpus respectively. Moreover, at one point some scholars even asserted that the wisdom literature is a Fremdkörper, that is, a strange corpus in the Hebrew Bible [1]. Nevertheless, partly as a result of a two-fold process, a more worthwhile interest in the wisdom literature commenced following the impact of Gerhard Von Rad’s book Weisheit in Israel [2]. This two-fold process was marked, on one hand, by the publication of a few major and novel interpretations of the wisdom literature and, on the other hand, by a mushrooming of specific studies dedicated to the examination and appreciation of the poetry of the Hebrew Bible. This latter aspect was perhaps partly influenced by the form criticism and beyond stage, marked by the emergence of rhetorical criticism. Consequently, scholarship became interested in investigating the abovementioned salient features, one of which is metaphor. During the time that biblical scholarship focused on employing other beneficial methods in the hermeneutical process of biblical texts, such as historical, literary, transmission historical, redaction historical, form, and traditio-historical criticism, various truth claims and facts about the metaphors were somewhat marginalised. Currently, fresh theories with respect to the definition of metaphors in general, spurred by the scholarship of the past few decades, offer sundry truth claims. These truth claims do not settle all of the issues revolving around the definition and function of metaphors. Nonetheless, they highlight the avenues into areas which have been somewhat unexplored territories before. The various theories of metaphor with their cascading effect had a major impact on biblical studies. It was perhaps the arrival of the form criticism and beyond stage that properly heralded the ascendancy of the interest in metaphors and poetics, in biblical narrative and poetry alike [3]. This stage in biblical academics resulted in the creation of the exegetical, respectively hermeneutical, method designated as rhetorical criticism. This method, with a specific focus on the rhetorics of Hebrew Bible texts, impinged on scholarship to discover the literary beauties inherent in these texts. Rhetorics, poetical devices, and literary art in biblical texts have become salient features of the hermeneutical enterprise. Scholars also advanced additional methods and approaches, which were roughly in line with the aims and outworkings of the aforementioned rhetorical criticism. One such method is rhetorical analysis, which is to be differentiated from rhetorical criticism [4]. At present, the study of metaphors and the methodological and exegetical application of various metaphor theories on biblical texts is an ever-growing research area. This process has already generated studies concerned with the narrative and poetry of the Hebrew Bible. Moreover, since a significant part of Hebrew Bible poetry i (...truncated)