What is "wisdom literature"

Wisdom literature \Wis"dom lit"er*a*ture\ The class of ancient Hebrew writings which deal reflectively with general ethical and religious topics, as distinguished from the prophetic and liturgical literature, and from the law. It is comprised chiefly in the books of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiasticus, Ecclesiastes, and Wisdom of Solomon. The ``wisdom'' (Hokhmah) of these writings consists in detached sage utterances on concrete issues of life, without the effort at philosophical system that appeared in the later Hellenistic reflective writing beginning with Philo Jud[ae]us.

n. any of the biblical books (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus) that are considered to contain widom [syn: sapiential book, wisdom book]

Wisdom literature is a genre of literature common in the ancient Near East. This genre is characterized by sayings of wisdom intended to teach about divinity and about virtue. The key principle of wisdom literature is that while techniques of traditional story-telling are used, books also presume to offer insight and wisdom about nature and reality.

The genre of mirrors for princes writings, which has a long history in Islamic and Western Renaissance literature, represents a secular cognate of biblical wisdom literature. In Classical Antiquity, the advice poetry of Hesiod, particularly his Works and Days has been seen as a like-genre to Near Eastern wisdom literature.