Wisdom in 1 Corinthians within the context of early Jewish wisdom tradition

This study was concerned with questions about whether Paul's understanding of Jewish wisdom tradition served as the basis for his discussion of wisdom in 1 Corinthians and his subsequent Corinthian directives. A survey of the scholarly literature was conducted in order to develop a foundation for the examination of Biblical texts on wisdom. Specific exegetical work was conducted of Proverbs, Job, Sirach and Wisdom of Solomon for the purpose of developing and verifying a fundamental construct of wisdom. This work yielded a construct comprised of eight key elements. The wisdom construct provided the basis for analysis of change in wisdom thought over the 600 year period that encompassed the wisdom literature. Exegetical studies of specific pericopes in 1 Corinthians were compared to the fundamental construct of wisdom to determine the extent of Paul's usage of OT wisdom tradition.