A Cautionary Tale: The Acts-Consequence ‘Construct’

Abstract

In 1955 Klaus Koch asserted that the Old Testament, particularly its wisdom literature, has no concept of divine retribution and that humanity simply receives the appropriate fruit of the good or bad deeds we sow. This notion, the so-called acts—consequence construct, has become an important element in a paradigmatic approach to the wisdom books; one which attacks the sages of Proverbs as—strangely enough in view of Koch’s argument—invoking divine retribution to support their, supposedly, self-serving teachings. This article offers some critique of Koch’s original argument but focuses on the misleading way it was appropriated by English-speaking scholars.