Philosophical Analysis on Wisdom in Judeo-Christianity and Confucianism [Excerpt]

In some modern (Western) philosophical schools of thought, philosophy wisdom is separate from knowledge and cosmology but that may not be applicable for early Hebrew and Chinese conception where philosophical wisdom is directly associated with knowledge and experience that have a symbiotic relationship with the human reflection and the cosmic order. In fact, Hebrew wisdom hokma is seen as the goddess associated with God and Confucius often refers to Heaven and encourages one to ‘take part in the transforming and nourishing process of Heaven and Earth, they can form a trinity with Heaven and Earth’ (Doctrine of the Mean).

In the typology of world religions, Hans Kung classifies Judaism, Christianity and Islam as prophetic religions while Chinese religions such as Confucianism, are seen as religious of wisdom, but he also emphasizes ‘there is a wisdom literature’ in the former and that the latter have something akin to ‘prophetic’ features. In fact, both ideologies have their own set of wisdom literature that reflects wisdom thinking and records wisdom tradition in a condensed form. From these texts, one can obtain instructions and advice to cope with life problems or to obtain a sense of fulfilment in life by being enlightened after an intellectual reflection, or as practical knowledge of the laws of life or even just for mere self-discovery. We thus see that it would be improper to impose the Western terminology onto these doctrines that exist as they are and originated in a sphere and in a specific time thus we need to give them the said consideration.

Wisdom set in ancient China and Israel have a background in education because the teachings on wisdom had their root in an educational context. In fact, the teachings of wisdom were entrenched in not only in the private sphere but also in the public sphere. The origins of Confucians could be traced back to government officials during the Early Zhou dynasty where their role was to ‘assist the ruler to follow the way of the yin-yang and to enlighten [the people] by education.’ In fact, from the fourteenth century onwards, Confucian’s wisdom texts, mainly the Great Learning, the Analects, Mencius and the Doctrine of the Mean, became the books of Confucianism education. By implementing these texts into the education system, Confucianism has transformed itself into a wisdom tradition whereby its literature’s content was not only passed down from the previous generation to the next but it has been formalised as a form of custom and even ritual, imposing itself onto individuals of that society.

Ludwig Kohler has reaffirmed that although ‘What we think of as school and schooling was alien to the Hebrew even until the latest period’, wisdom was still taught and learnt. It was developed within the family, headed by the parents in the form of advice and instructions. As with Confucianism, it didn’t merely stop at the private department for the wisdom in Judeo-Christianity also provide guidance in terms of possessions, ‘with the rights which belong to each man as regards pieces of land, pastures, inheritances and such like’, and concerning ‘the rites, the abstentions and actions which accompanied sacrificial festivals; participation in the covenant community; the sentences, customs and traditions in cases of disagreement and their adjustment, and the appropriate to misdemeanours and crimes and their atonement; the ordering and controlling of public affairs’, covering ‘every conceivable aspect and manifestation of common life’. Like the Confucian wisdom and royal court, the wisdom in Judeo-Christianity is often associated with courtiers and royal counsellors (2 Samuel 15-17, Daniel 1-6) and with educators (Prov. 9:9-12; Jeremiah 8:8-12). That being said, no consensus was made with regards to any form of wisdom movement in the society and whether or not wisdom texts were implemented by these royal courts and teachers in their lawmaking and education, as compared to Confucianism in ancient China. Whilst James Crenshaw is convinced of the presence of professional sages in ancient Israel, Roger Whybray argues that the wisdom texts were by-products of an ongoing intellectual tradition and were not produced by these sages.