Abstract
Wisdom equips us to face complexities in practical life. We must not confuse it with knowledge or information. Wisdom derives from God, the community and education. Knowledge derives largely from individual reflection. Old Testament conceptions of wisdom come mainly from Proverbs and from the less optimistic view of Providence in Job and Ecclesiastes. In the post-canonical writings, Ben Sirach and Wisdom of Solomon follow each respectively. Wisdom’s complexity leads to 12 types of aphorisms in Proverbs, including the gnomic, educational and metaphorical.
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